Rio Nido man armed with fake guns arrested after two-hour standoff

A two-hour standoff between Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies and an armed Rio Nido man holed up in a home on Canyon 7 Road ended Friday when the man collapsed on his porch, sheriff’s officials said.

Officials said Alex Laszlo, 47, was bleeding and may have cut himself on broken glass, and that the weapons turned out to be a pellet gun and a starter pistol, a gun that fires blanks and is used to start races during track meets.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home on the 14000 block of Canyon 7 Road at ?3:53 p.m. after they received a report from a neighbor.

The neighbor said Laszlo had assaulted him and pointed a gun at him, threatening to shoot.

When deputies arrived, they found Laszlo on the front deck of the house.

Laszlo was uncooperative, yelling profanities and making threats involving the weapons, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Officials evacuated neighbors from the area.

Laszlo would come out to yell at deputies and throw items at them, then return inside, officials said.

Officials said Laszlo caused a great deal of damage to the home, breaking windows and throwing household items out onto the driveway. Just before 6 p.m., Laszlo was seen on the front deck of the home with what looked like an injury to his arm. He collapsed and was taken into custody without further injury, officials said.

He was taken to a local hospital, treated for his injury and booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, making threats to commit injury to others and brandishing a replica weapon.

Laszlo’s bail is set at $150,000.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.