El Cajon

El Cajon police cordoned off a busy residential street Sunday morning when a man who said he was armed climbed to the roof of his two-story apartment building, alternately threatening to jump and inviting police to bring him down by force.

Officer Tom Buhl convinced 28-year-old Mark Andrew McKee to climb down after a 90-minute standoff that began about 8:35 a.m., Lt. George Cretton said.

McKee was evaluated at the county mental health hospital in Hillcrest and jailed on suspicion of vandalism, malicious mischief and delaying a police officer in performance of his duty, Cretton said.

The incident began when police received a call from McKee, who said he was Satan and wanted to start a gun battle with police, Cretton said.

When police arrived at McKee’s home in the 700 block of North Mollison Street, they found he had virtually destroyed the apartment and was up on the roof. They blocked off a section of North Mollison Street, a busy access road to Interstate 8 in a heavily populated residential area. At one point, McKee leaned off the roof and crossed himself repeatedly as if preparing to dive head-first off the building, Cretton said. He also asked police to shoot him.

Police believed McKee’s claim that he was armed and decided not to climb to the roof, Cretton said. McKee proved to be unarmed after he climbed down a ladder and was taken into custody by police.