After Standoff, Man Held for Evaluation

A 37-year-old man was held for a psychiatric evaluation Monday after an early morning, three-hour standoff with officers, according to authorities.

Greg Franks would be held for as long as 72 hours, said Officer Angela Grant, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. It had not yet been determined if he would be charged with any crime.

The incident began at about 2:45 a.m. Monday when two workers inside a Food-4-Less supermarket on Lankershim Boulevard near Webb Avenue reported a man pounding on the store’s windows waving a gun.

When officers arrived, Franks got into his 1983 Ford truck and left the parking lot, but immediately returned and refused to leave the vehicle, Grant said.

The LAPD’s SWAT team was called to the scene, where team members began negotiating with Franks, who requested a soft drink, police said.

Before the officers could comply, however, Franks drove the truck out of the parking lot again, returned, parked a second time and got out of the truck. Officers fired a bean bag, striking and knocking him to the ground, authorities said. Franks suffered minor cuts from shattered glass in his truck and was treated at the scene.

Investigators did not recover a weapon, Grant said.