By Paul Larocco
The Press Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO- A three-hour standoff with a knife-wielding man ended peacefully Wednesday afternoon, when SWAT officers coaxed him out of his home.
Brandon Kinsey, 25, walked out the front door of his home on the 300 block of West 25th Street at 3:30 p.m., with his hands up. He had been inside the house since just after noon, after he fled from a knifepoint robbery of a video-game device, police said.
The robbery victim, 25-year-old San Bernardino resident James Stevens, told officers he met Kinsey in front of the home to sell him a portable PlayStation device, known as a PSP, said San Bernardino police Lt. Scott Paterson. Kinsey pulled a knife, stole the device and ran, Paterson said.
Kinsey hid in his house with an unidentified relative who later came out on crutches.
No one was injured.
At one point, more than 50 officers, paramedics and firefighters queued up around the house, shutting down 25th Street. It was not immediately known how many other people were inside the house as police prepared for a hostage situation.
But two hours later, Kinsey’s relative hobbled outside using a crutch for his left leg, his right arm in a sling.
Kinsey surrendered 20 minutes later. He was booked at West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of armed robbery.
Monica Walsh, who lives in a home behind Kinsey’s, said the neighborhood is no stranger to drugs and burglaries. She pointed out gang graffiti on her trash bins, and said that many people can find easy ways to hide from police because of the alleyways.
“You go up in a chopper and you’ll see,” Walsh said. “It’s like a little maze.”
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