NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—A man was arrested on the evening of Oct. 4 after barricading himself in a home in the aftermath of two carjacking incidents.
Police said the first carjacking happened shortly after 4 p.m. at the upscale outdoor mall Fashion Island.The suspect later “ditched” the car and grabbed another vehicle, leading police in a short pursuit before abandoning it. He then ran away in the Dover Shore area just a few miles from the mall where he barricaded himself in a home, police said.
“This kind of thing does not really happen here too often,” a teenager living in the neighborhood told The Epoch Times. “I mean, there might have been something I can remember like a few years ago.”
Surprised by the scale of the police operation, many residents were observing outside of their homes while the suspect was apprehended by multiple Orange County law enforcement agencies—including Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Costa Mesa police departments, with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department deploying a helicopter to maintain constant air coverage.
A SWAT team was called to the scene to help take the man into custody. Onsite witnesses said he was originally brandishing a firearm after ditching the stolen vehicle.
“The neighborhood is out and talking [with each other],” resident Brynn told The Epoch Times. “So that’s the silver lining.”
The suspect eventually surrendered to police by about 9 p.m. His name was not immediately released by authorities.
