By Hallie Golden and Julie Watson
Associated Press
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Police were locked in negotiations Tuesday night with a man holding hostages inside a building that houses a Chase bank branch and school district office in the Southern California city of Bakersfield, officials said.
Officers responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. at the Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield, and discovered a man had barricaded himself inside “with several community members,” the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.
| REGISTER: The hidden cost of the modern patrol shift
Through negotiations, two of the hostages were released and the rest are in “good health,” city police Sgt. Eric Celedon said.
“We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible,” he said.
Nearby buildings were evacuated, including city hall and the police headquarters, and some roads were temporarily closed, according to officials. Officers established a perimeter around the building and nearby businesses, authorities said.
Celedon warned the public to stay out of the area, explaining that this is still a very active situation.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said its branch is on the ground floor of the building and is currently empty. The company is working with authorities.
The department’s crisis negotiation team was in contact with the suspect by telephone.
About a dozen police cars were on scene along with one tactical vehicle and multiple emergency responders, and FBI agents were on the scene.
Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls from his subscribers alerting him to the bomb threat.
“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. “Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents with the green, red and yellow tags, and black tags too, along with a command center about a block away.”
By Tuesday night, his livestream captured through a window in the building a woman rocking back and forth before crouching further down below the window. Later, two hands could be seen waving.
Law enforcement agencies often protectively set up trauma tents — which are color-coded to help sort people based on the severity of injuries — just in case they become needed during an emergency situation.
Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh said she is closely monitoring the situation.
“The best way the public can help at this time is by avoiding the area and allowing law enforcement officers, negotiators, and other trained professionals the space and opportunity to safely carry out their duties,” she said in a statement.
Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.