Hostage Standoff Ends as Police Raid Hotel Room

San Diego police ended a 33-hour hostage crisis, the longest in the city’s history, Thursday morning when they stormed a Harbor Island hotel room and captured a convicted burglar who had walked away from a Colorado juvenile program.

An hour and a half earlier, SWAT team members had rescued the gunman’s hostage, 56-year-old Don Evans of El Cajon, after grabbing him by the arm as he opened the room door to get some scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns that had been left outside.

Police had been withholding food from the gunman since the incident began shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday.

During negotiations, the gunman had identified himself to police as 18-year-old Randy Dolph of Ft. Collins, Colo.

Officials in Ft. Collins said Dolph, who was serving time in a juvenile program for a second-degree burglary conviction, had been scheduled to be paroled Tuesday.

Dolph’s juvenile program had placed him with a family in Ft. Collins, where he had been working and getting counseling just before his parole, said John McIlwee of the Colorado Department of Institutions.

“This behavior surprised everyone,” McIlwee said Thursday. “It will be interesting to see what caused this, because, if it’s something we can correct, we’d sure like to do it.”

Dolph apparently stole a car that had a 12-gauge shotgun inside and drove to San Diego from Ft. Collins, police said.

The car, reported stolen Sunday, was found in the parking lot of the Travelodge Hotel on the west arm of Harbor Island with seven live shotgun shells inside.

Dolph was arrested Thursday on suspicion of kidnaping, false imprisonment and unlawful taking of a vehicle, and held on $30,000 bail, said a spokeswoman at the County Jail downtown. The incident began shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday when Dolph approached Evans, a security guard who had been keeping an eye on a site at the Palm Grill restaurant in the hotel where some remodeling work was being done.

Evans had been working the 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift at the hotel for Granite Construction Co. in El Cajon, the company doing the remodeling.

Evans told police that Dolph approached him with his shotgun pointed toward the floor and said: “Excuse me sir, don’t be afraid, I’m going to get a room here, and you’re going to help me.”

Then the man marched Evans into the hotel lobby and demanded that the hotel clerk on duty give him a key to a room on the ninth floor.

He was given Room 901, a suite that rents for $175 a night and has a bedroom, a living room and two balconies.

The two were holed up in the room for more than 12 hours before Dolph would talk to police negotiators who had repeatedly called his room.

As the standoff progressed, Dolph agreed to exchange 12 shotgun shells for a cooler of soda. By late Wednesday night, he had turned over all his shells except two rounds that remained in the gun.

Evans, who told police Dolph never threatened or pointed the shotgun at him, feared Dolph had saved the last two rounds for them.

Dolph’s brother told police that Dolph was on what he called “a suicide mission,” said police spokesman Dave Cohen.

After freeing the hostage, SWAT team members broke the windows, threw tear gas into the room and stormed in just after 10 a.m. Thursday.

When they got inside, police found Dolph covered with a bedspread sitting on the floor with the gun next to him, Cohen said.

Two notes to family members were found on a table, but the contents of the notes were not released.

“You wait as long as the situation allows you time,” Cohen said. “The goal is to negotiate everyone out safely, and (Dolph) did not threaten, and he was not making any demands.”

But police also were anxious to end the standoff because Evans, the hostage, apparently suffered a heart attack in 1983, and his doctor feared that the stress and lack of food might bring on another one.

Evans, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is described as a low-key man who enjoys working as a security guard as long as he is unarmed.

“He does not like guns at all,” said R. W. Heckathorn, general manager of Granite Construction.

Evans was not armed while guarding the site at the Travelodge.

During the standoff, about 60 law enforcement people were stationed at the hotel, including negotiating teams and SWAT team members.

People in rooms on the ninth floor and in a few rooms on the eighth floor had been evacuated.