El Cajon

A man who barricaded himself in a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department aircraft hangar in El Cajon, punctured an aircraft’s fuel tank and lit fires inside the hangar was arrested Saturday after a 4 1/2-hour standoff.

El Cajon and San Diego police, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were called to Gillespie Field about 7:30 a.m. Saturday after a sheriff’s employee discovered the hangar doors had been tied and secured from the inside, an El Cajon police spokesman said.

Sheriff officials found a man armed with a machete barricaded inside. They tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the man, who told them he was going to set the hangar on fire, the spokesman said.

About noon, negotiations broke down, and the man punctured a fuel tank of a fixed-wing aircraft, releasing about 100 gallons of fuel.

El Cajon firefighters cut a hole in the door of the metal hangar after the man was seen lighting fires. He threatened the firefighters but was subdued with a fire hose and taken into custody, the spokesman said.

Jesus Alejandro Sanz, 28, hometown unknown, was arrested in connection with five counts of arson, burglary, malicious mischief, felony assault, resisting arrest and violating parole. He is being held at the downtown County Jail in lieu of an unspecified bail amount.

Damage to the hangar was estimated at $2,000.