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A 70-year-old lady in a Los Angeles County trailer home threatened police officers, paramedics and emergency crews with a handgun after she had called them over a medical emergency. Authorities had to evacuate the park, while the woman remained barricaded in her mobile home more than 15 hours as of Thursday evening.
Deputies arrived at her home around 6:00 a.m. after they had received a call at 5:35 a.m. The woman refused to let them in and pinpointed a handgun at them. After 15 hours emergency crews were still negotiating with her and reported the situation as being “active.” The woman sounded distressed and told them that she needed medical assistance.
The woman’s name was not disclosed but the police department’s spokesperson told reporters she was 70 years old. According to deputies, she showed them a firearm “in a threatening manner”. So, they had to back off, evacuate the place and call negotiators.
But any attempt of convincing the elderly woman to leave her trailer home was doomed to fail. She remained barricaded in her home and declined to talk with negotiators. Later, sheriff’s deputies tried more persuasive methods to get her out.
They threw tear gas in the trailer and even a stun grenade, but they couldn’t reach the old lady since she further refused to exit. Hours later they sent a robot with a camera in to try to see how she was doing. She immediately shot it, hit it several times with a broom and threw a blanket over it, while the whole situation being recorded.
The police declined to give details on the severity of the damages made to the robot.
At 8:45 p.m., Cpt. Mike Parker of L.A. Sheriff’s Department tweeted that the woman still refuses to surrender after she had fired several shots from her mobile located in the town of Topanga. Cpt. Parker urged sheriff’s deputies to be patient.
SEB Swat teams who usually deal with barricaded suspects reported that they had employed various strategies to “defuse and safely resolve situation,” but with no effect. The old lady keept everybody waiting for nearly 18 hours now, although she was asked to surrender peacefully and promised that she won’t be harmed.
Last night, L.A. Sheriff’s Department said that negotiators and deputies had been devoting tireless efforts and used “various tactics” to persuade the elderly woman to surrender.
“All efforts to this point have been unsuccessful and the woman remains barricaded at this time,”
the sheriff’s deputies reported on Thursday night.
Image Source: LA Times
