SORRENTO VALLEY, Calif. — An auto theft suspect was arrested Monday after pulling into a parking lot outside the FBI’s Sorrento Valley field office Monday and refusing orders to surrender, prompting a law enforcement standoff.
The call out at the federal facility at 10385 Vista Sorrento Parkway began playing out shortly before 9:30 a.m., according to San Diego police, and was continuing in the early afternoon.
During the incident, FOX 5 reached out to San Diego FBI Public Affairs.
“There is an ongoing incident in the visitor parking lot at the San Diego FBI field office in Sorrento Valley,” said William C. McNamara, of San Diego FBI Public Affairs. “FBI personnel are working with the San Diego Police Department to bring a safe resolution to the matter. We are unable to provide further comment at this time.”
SkyFOX was over the scene at around 11:30 a.m. when a SWAT unit was seen gathered with police around a pickup truck in the parking lot. Traffic was also being redirected.
At around noon, officers began moving in on the pickup truck and arrested the individual, who San Diego Police Captain Benjamin Kelso later described as a Hispanic man in his mid-40s.
Kelso said the FBI did some background checks and believed the man might have had some violent history that escalated the situation. The negotiations team was then called out to attempt to engage the person to talk to them for several hours.
“Those talks were unsuccessful,” Kelso said. “At a certain point, the decision was made to deploy some chemical agents and some other tools in order to see if we could get that person to comply and come out, but that individual ultimately did not comply.”
Kelso said officers were forced to break the vehicle’s window and used physical force to remove the individual. The man was not injured and is currently in police custody.
According to intel from the FBI, Kelso stated that the suspect apparently did send emails and other things to the FBI, indicating that he wanted to talk to them. Kelso added the police department does not know what those conversations were about.
City News Service contributed to this story.