Ex-Convict Arrested in 11-Hour Standoff With Police in Pacific Beach; No Injuries

A 28-year-old ex-convict was in custody Saturday after an almost 11-hour standoff during which the suspect, vowing not to be taken alive, fired more than two dozen shots at officers from inside a motel room in Pacific Beach, authorities said.

The suspect, identified as James Scott Daly, a parolee, was arrested shortly before 7 a.m. after he was flushed out of the room by tear gas fired by officers trained in Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, procedures.

No one was injured during the incident, police said.

Daly, who was paroled from state custody last September after serving time for armed robbery, told officers during numerous telephone conversations as the evening wore on that he would not give up, according to David Cohen, a police spokesman.

“He indicated more than once that he had no intention of going back to prison, and (that) he would take out as many police officers as he could, and save one bullet for himself,” said Cohen.

The tense standoff, which began shortly before 8 p.m. Friday and ended at 6:45 a.m., resulted in the evacuation of up to 20 residents from the Western Shores Motel and the temporary shutdown of a number of area roads, including a section of Mission Bay Drive and the Garnet Avenue ramps leading from Interstate 5.

Daly was being held without bail at the San Diego County Jail on four counts of attempted murder, a jail spokeswoman said.

The incident began shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, police said, when detectives wearing yellow raid jackets knocked on the door of Daly’s motel room on Mission Bay Drive and identified themselves.

They were immediately met with gunfire coming through the door, police said, and they returned the fire.

The lawmen had gone to the site because Daly had commited an unspecified parole violation and was also a suspect in several area covenience-store robberies, Cohen said.

Police and reinforcements surrounded the motel. Throughout the evening, authorities said, there were sporadic gun battles between the suspect and lawmen.

At one point, according to police, Daly apparently fired a dozen shots through a window at an officer posted at a rear position.

Using the motel telephone, the police hostage negotiating team and Daly’s parole officer urged the suspect to surrender. Daly asked to speak with a girlfriend, who was summoned, but he still refused to give up, Cohen said.

At 6:40 a.m., police said, officers fired tear gas into the room, drawing two more gunshots from Daly. A second volley of gas fired a few minutes later forced Daly to put down his weapon and surrender, police said.

Daly, wearing jeans, a T-shirt saying “Bad to the Bone,” and sneakers, was found lying on the floor with an unspecified firearm nearby, authorities said.