Man Surrenders After Police Use Tear Gas
Los Angeles police used tear gas to force the surrender of a security guard who had allegedly fired shots, taken his family hostage and barricaded himself and his family inside his apartment early Friday.
The incident started at 12:40 a.m. as a dispute between neighbors at an apartment building in the 21200 block of Roscoe Boulevard, police said. At some point during the argument, Charlie Rabaja, 44, fired a gun into the ground, police said.
When police arrived on the scene at about 1:55 a.m. they found the man holed up in his apartment with his family. The family eventually left, but the man refused to do the same, according to LAPD spokesman Don Cox.
At 4:45 a.m. officers with the LAPD’s Special Weapons Team fired tear-gas canisters into the apartment and flushed him out.
Rabaja, arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, is being held at Devonshire Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail, police said.
No one was injured during the confrontation.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
