After a 20-hour standoff, police early Tuesday arrested a Miami Beach man who barricaded himself in his South Beach apartment and refused to come out.
Alberto Rodriguez, 34, was taken into custody around 5:15 a.m. after a Beach police SWAT team fired tear gas in the apartment, on Pennsylvania Avenue near Lincoln Road, said police spokesman Bobby Hernandez.
Rodriguez remained in the gas-filled apartment for about 15 minutes before coming out. But when he saw officers waiting for him, he turned and tried to run back inside, Hernandez said. Police used a Taser stun gun to subdue him, Hernandez said.
Rodriguez was charged with simple assault, battery on an elderly and resisting without violence. He was taken to the Miami-Dade County Jail, Hernandez said.
The incident began around 9 a.m. Monday, when the suspect’s mother, Connie Rodriguez, 85, told police she had been locked out of the apartment she shares with her son. The mother also told police that her son is being treated for psychological problems and that he has a cache of weapons in the apartment.
Police tried all day and night to get the man to surrender. After Rodriguez made unreasonable demands and then stopped communicating with police negotiators, SWAT officers moved in early Tuesday, Hernandez said.
Hernandez said officers found several weapons in the apartment.