Standoff Ends Peacefully
Sheriff’s deputies diffused a tense situation in rural San Luis Obispo, getting a man with a gun to surrender peacefully and seek mental health treatment.
According to Sheriff’s spokesman, Tony Cipolla, at about 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4, they got a report of shots fired in the 2200 block of Carpenter Canyon Rd., in rural SLO.
“When deputies arrived on scene,” Cipolla said in a news release, “they determined an adult male subject had fired several shots at the tires of an unattended vehicle. The subject had then barricaded himself inside the residence at that location with two other family members.”
Cipolla said they determined the man was “experiencing a mental health crisis.”
Responding deputies called in the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail (SED), and behavioral health specialists with the Sheriff’s Community Action Team (CAT) to negotiate with the man.
“After approximately 90 minutes,” Cipolla said, “the subject walked out of the home unarmed along with the two family members. No one was hurt during this incident. The subject was not arrested.”
The man, who was not identified, was placed on a 72-hour mental health hold and was evaluated and treated by mental health professionals, according to Cipolla.
The incident is the third in the past 3 months involving someone in mental health crisis wherein deputies were able to handle a tense situation without harming the person.
