Heavily Armed Man, Police in Standoff
A heavily armed Port Hueneme man took his wife and a woman neighbor hostage about 6:15 p.m. Monday, prompting a barricade by dozens of police officers.
The man, described as a former police officer from Cleveland in his late 40s, had fired no shots by 10:30 p.m., and police said the neighbor had escaped and the wife had been released.
Police initially responded to a warning call by the man’s psychiatrist, who told police that the man had weapons in his Ventura Road apartment, police said.
After Port Hueneme police tried unsuccessfully to contact the man, they descended on the Anacapa View apartment complex near Hueneme Road with the Oxnard Special Weapons and Tactics team.
By 7 p.m., the neighbor had escaped from the two-story dwelling near the ocean. The man released his wife unharmed about 10:15 p.m.
Police said they did not know the motive. By late evening, police still had not spoken to the man and were planning an assault on his home.
All streets near the complex were barricaded, including Ventura and Hueneme roads and Sea View Street.
At least a dozen apartments in the man’s complex were evacuated.
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