No arrests after 5-hour standoff
Wednesday’s hours-long standoff with Yuma police officers from the Special Enforcement Team at a condominium on Crowder Avenue near 16th Street and Avenue B ended without an arrest being made.
According to Yuma Police Department Sgt. Lori Franklin, team leader for the negotiation team, SET members eventually made entry into the residence, but the suspect being sought was not inside.
Franklin explained that the incident began at about 2 p.m. as U.S. Marshals were trying to issue a warrant for the arrest of a felony fugitive who lived at the location.
U.S. Marshals eventually called in the YPD’s SET for assistance when they thought the suspect may have barricaded himself inside.
Throughout the incident, “Yuma police! We have a search warrant!” was audible over a long range acoustic device mounted to the SET armored vehicle parked in front of a residence. More than a dozen officers wearing tactical gear also surrounded the home.
As a precaution, neighboring residents were evacuated and Crowder Avenue was closed off to traffic between 16th Place and 17th Street.
Using a long range acoustic device mounted to the SET armored vehicle parked in front of a residence, the negotiator on the loudspeaker could be heard repeatedly telling an individual by the name of “Luna” to come out the back door unarmed, with his hands up.
The U.S. Marshals Service was not available to comment, so the identity of the individual or the charges he was being sought for could not be confirmed.
Also audible were warnings telling whoever was inside that the home was surrounded, and if they did not come out a K-9 would be sent in, and find them and bite them.
A flashbang grenade and smoke grenade were also used during the incident.
At one point, SET members used a battering ram to bash down the back door so a telephone could be placed inside the home.
Eventually, SET members stormed inside the home but did not find the man marshals were seeking.