A standoff that closed Santa Rosa Avenue near Todd Road for nearly five hours ended peacefully late Thursday night when the Sonoma County sheriff's SWAT team entered a home and took a man they described as extremely intoxicated into custody.
The unidentified man initially was reported to have a gun and be holding several other people hostage in a home on Bucks Road in south Santa Rosa.
The incident began sometime around 6:30 p.m., and by 7 p.m. at least a dozen deputies in SWAT gear were positioned around the single-family home and behind patrol cars and a light armored vehicle. Some were even on the roofs of adjacent buildings.
Additional officers were strapping on helmets and bulletproof vests at a makeshift staging area on Santa Rosa Avenue and East Todd Road. The department's mobile command unit and the bomb squad arrived a short while later.
"They evacuated all the houses on the street because they weren't sure if there was going to be a shootout or not," said 33-year-old Adrienne Hanley, who lives on nearby Brooks Avenue.
The CHP closed Santa Rosa Avenue for at least five hours, diverting traffic around the area between East Robles Avenue and East Todd Road.
Around 7:20 p.m., officers with guns drawn began yelling "Get your hands up!" as an older man in a baseball hat, presumably a hostage, walked out the front door. He complied and was taken away from the home. Several other men, some disheveled, appeared to have been removed safely as well.
Officers appeared to be interviewing the men. They were not handcuffed.
Around 8:15 p.m., the SWAT team and armored vehicle moved closer to the home, and the sheriff's bomb-disposal robot was used to enter the home and perform surveillance.
Shortly after 11 p.m., a camera on the robot located the man they described as "incredibly intoxicated" in a bedroom. The suspect appeared to be taken from the scene in an ambulance.
Authorities detonated a flash-bang grenade, and when it failed to rouse the suspect, deputies entered the house and removed him.
Neighbors who had been prevented from returning to their homes were gathered at a gas station across Santa Rosa Avenue, and at 11:30 p.m. were told they would be soon allowed back in their homes.
(You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.)
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: