By Julie Watson
Associated Press
CHULA VISTA, Calif. — What began as a dispute between neighbors ended with both men dead while two children and the gunman’s wife survived the all-day standoff at an apartment complex in suburban San Diego.
The gunman, a 42-year-old man identified only as Michael, shot and killed his neighbor Thursday morning, and several hours later shot and killed himself, Chula Vista police Capt. Lon Turner said.
In the hours between the two deaths, the man, his wife and two small boys whose relationship to the adults was not revealed remained inside their apartment while police tried to draw them out.
By 4 p.m., the woman and children left the house safely, got into a police squad car and were driven away.
“We all breathed a collective sigh of relief” when the woman and kids came out, Turner said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether they were being held against their will or voluntarily staying inside.
About an hour later, alone inside the apartment, the man shot and killed himself, Turner said. A SWAT team sent surveillance robots in before entering and finding the man dead, Turner said.
The woman, identified only by the first name Laura, and the boys, who are both under 9 years old, walked out after police had resumed cellphone negotiations with the man, who had begun talking about surrendering, Turner said.
The man and woman had been married about a year. She told police that he had more weapons and ammunition inside the apartment, which police planned to search late Thursday night.
The standoff began when the man killed a neighbor and retreated into the apartment, police said. The victim’s body remained between two cars outside the complex for hours because it was in the line of fire and too dangerous to retrieve, Turner said.
Authorities helped 56 people, including the victim’s family members, evacuate from the 39-unit complex of low-slung, lime-green apartments.
Humberto Carranza’s wife, 8-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were among the evacuees. Carranza, who was at work as a door installer when he heard about the standoff, spoke with his wife on the phone throughout the ordeal as SWAT officers stood in their backyard with sniper rifles. His family was in his son’s bedroom, which was farthest away from the gunman’s apartment.
Carranza, 33, said he knew the man involved in the standoff, and their boys are classmates who play together.
“I don’t know what went wrong,” he said. “He seemed to be all right. I just saw him yesterday and he said hi.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press