National City
A Lakeside man armed with a semiautomatic weapon surrendered to SWAT officers Friday morning without incident at a motel, National City police reported.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Friday, another man, Gregory Barber, 28, flagged down a police sergeant in the 1400 block of National City Boulevard and told the officer that he had been kidnaped two days earlier in San Diego by an acquaintance who wanted him to help commit a robbery, police Lt. Mike Connelly said.
According to Barber, Connelly said, he was abducted in Southeast San Diego by John Darnell Conway, 34, an unemployed waiter recently released from prison in Chino after serving three years for armed robbery. Barber told police that Conway was armed with a semiautomatic handgun, a box of ammunition and flex cuffs, a plastic form of handcuffs, and was staying in Room 20 of the Paradise Valley Motel on National City Boulevard, Connelly said.
Police called Conway’s probation officer then contacted San Diego police for SWAT assistance. About 9 a.m., police surrounded the motel, Connelly said.
Conway came out of his room at 9:20 a.m. and was taken into custody without incident, Connelly said.
Conway was booked into County Jail on one count of kidnaping, one count of felony possession of a firearm and parole violations.
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