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Police in standoff with armed man barricaded inside Calif. Denny’s

Shortly after noon, more than six hours after the standoff began, police set off a flash-bang device outside the restaurant

Mark Gomez
The Mercury News

CAMPBELL — A man believed armed with a gun is barricaded inside a Denny’s restaurant on Bascom Avenue near the Pruneyard shopping center as police have surrounded the business.

Shortly after noon, more than six hours after the standoff began, police set off a flash-bang device outside the restaurant. Police used a loudspeaker to order the man to come out of the restaurant with his hands up.

A few minutes later, Campbell police tweeted: “Our SWAT team just used an audible diversionary device to gain the suspect’s attention. We are still trying to communicate with the individual inside.”

Earlier police negotiators began trying to contact the man.

“We’re currently working to safely bring a man out from #Dennys who is believed to be armed,” Campbell police said in a tweet sent out at about 8:40 a.m. “He is believed to be the only person inside.”

The police crisis negotiating team is outside the restaurant located at 2060 S. Bascom Avenue, but as 11 a.m., police had not said whether they have been able to contact the man.

Before 5:30 a.m., the man was inside the restaurant, walked out and confronted an employee, according to police. He threw coffee at the worker, threatened him with a gun and then walked back inside the restaurant and sat down at a booth.

Police received the first 911 call at 5:18 a.m. By the time officer arrived, the employees and customers had evacuated the restaurant.

Police have closed Bascom at Campbell Avenue and Dry Creek road.

Monique Herrera, who lives behind the Denny’s, said she woke up to the sounds of shouting coming from the restaurant parking lot.

“I thought it was people arguing, but when I looked out the window and saw two cop cars with lights pointed in the parking lot,” said Herrera, who locked her doors. A few minutes later, more police cars arrived.

Herrera left for work at 6:40 a.m., but came back when police asked her two adult children to evacuate their house and some others in the area.

Check back for more information on this breaking story.

https://twitter.com/CampbellPolice/status/1093912138362449920 https://twitter.com/CampbellPolice/status/1093966584664645632

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©2019 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.

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