Battering Ram Ends 8-Hour Standoff
An eight-hour standoff with a man who allegedly fired shots near the Harbor Freeway ended about 7 a.m. Thursday when a police SWAT team used an armored battering ram to smash into the South Los Angeles home in which he was hiding.
Los Angeles police spokesmen said that Clifford Jones, 40, was taken into custody soon after screaming, “I want to surrender! I want to surrender!”
Before the battering ram was brought in, police used tear gas, but Jones did not respond to it, Sgt. John Zamora said.
The episode began about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday when someone fired at officers and then went into hiding in a house in the 300 block of West 98th Street.
Fearing the shots could hit vehicles on the freeway, police closed the northbound lanes from Century Boulevard to Manchester Avenue, snarling traffic more than three miles. Some local residents took shelter in two Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses during the incident.
As of Thursday evening, prosecutors had not decided what Jones would be charged with.
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