SWAT Team Routs Transient From Home After Standoff

A transient apparently looking for a place to live broke into a Santa Monica house Saturday morning and refused to leave, triggering a five-hour standoff with a Sheriff’s special weapons team, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies used tear gas to force the man, identified only as Bill, out of the house. The man, about 45, suffered dog bites during a brief scuffle with deputies and police dogs and was taken to County-USC Medical Center for treatment.

The residents of the home in the 2200 block of Arizona Avenue were away on vacation when the transient entered the house, Santa Monica Police Sgt. George Centeno said.

He was discovered about 10 a.m. by a woman who stopped by to clean the house. She called police.

When officers arrived, however, the man ignored their orders to leave and armed himself with what appeared to be a rifle. It was later discovered that the weapon was a toy.

“Apparently, his intent was not to steal,” Centeno said. “He broke in with the purpose of living there.”

After about an hour, police called out the sheriff’s special weapons team, which surrounded the house and tried communicating with the man over the telephone and using a bullhorn, Deputy George Ducoulombier said.

But the man would not answer the phone and ignored all orders from the deputies.

About 4:30 p.m. SWAT team members threw in tear gas canisters and stormed the house with the help of police dogs. No shots were fired and no officers were injured.

The man faces charges of burglary and resisting arrest, Centeno said.