Slain Gunman’s Friend Arrested After Standoff

A friend of a man who killed a sheriff’s deputy during a weekend siege kept officers at bay with a hunting rifle during a standoff in Clairemont that ended late Thursday night after a SWAT team fired tear gas and arrested the man.

Police identified the man as Sandy Summers, 37. The siege began about 2 p.m. at Summers’ home in the 3200 block of Apache Avenue and continued well into the night, keeping SWAT officers at bay for at least seven hours, police Sgt. Anne O’Dell said.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m., a volley of tear gas was fired and the man emerged and was taken into custody, police officers at the scene said.

Friends said Summers was an unemployed car salesman and may have been upset by last Saturday’s incident involving his friend, Robert Gary Taschner, who was killed by police gunfire outside his Escondido home as he ran out of the home firing an AK-47-style assault rifle.

During Taschner’s rampage Saturday, he shot and killed Deputy Lonny Brewer. Two other deputies suffered minor wounds.

A friend of Summers’, George Moore, 35, was brought to the scene Thursday to try to reason with Summers. He said he went to high school with Summers and added that his friend might be upset over Taschner’s death.

Neighbors said Summers’ wife of 14 years, Dee Dee, had left him this week.

Thursday’s incident began when neighbors reported that a man was running around his front lawn threatening residents with a bow and arrow.

“The subject’s father also called,” O’Dell said. “The father said his son had been acting argumentative and irrational all day long.”

The younger Summers put a huge cardboard sign on the lawn that declared, “Listen, I Need Help,” in spray-painted black letters.

O’Dell added that the man also placed a picture of his mother, who died last summer, beside the sign.

When SWAT officers arrived at 2:40 p.m., Summers had sought refuge in his home and refused to come out, O’Dell said. She said he had broken a window and repeatedly hung up on police negotiators who tried to phone him.

SWAT officers shot and killed Summers’ dog, a Rotweiler named Bosco, when Summers let it out of the house, O’Dell added.

“He let the dog out and our SWAT guys were crawling in the grass and it went at them,” the sergeant said. “They had to shoot it.”