Kidnapping Suspect Arrested After Shootout in Long Beach

A Las Vegas man abducted his 2-year-old son from the child’s mother and was arrested in Long Beach on Monday after boarding a bus and exchanging gunshots with officers, police said.

No one was injured in the shootout at 7:45 a.m. on Cherry Avenue north of Bixby Road. Daniel James Sigler, 22, released the child and surrendered to police, said Karen Owens, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department.

The child was treated at Long Beach Memorial Hospital for cuts to his feet from shattered glass in the bus, Owens said.

Police had responded to a domestic disturbance call at 5:30 a.m. in the 2200 block of East 14th Street.

The child’s mother had left Las Vegas days earlier to stay with her mother because of problems with Sigler, Owens said.

Police said the boyfriend followed her to Long Beach and broke into the apartment where she was staying.

Sigler found her hiding in a closet. He fired two shots that missed her and fled with the child, police said.

“A Long Beach transit bus driver recognized that a passenger matched the suspect’s description and notified his dispatcher,” Owens said.

The bus driver had learned of the man’s description over a scanner. He pulled over and walked behind the bus as if to check on a mechanical problem, but he actually met with police officers, she said.

Police then told the 15 passengers to get off the bus.

“After the last passenger got off, the only person on was the suspect and the child,” Owens said. “He fired through the windows at one of the police units.”

Police said it wasn’t known how many times he and the officers fired at each other.

Minutes later, he surrendered.

Sigler is wanted by Las Vegas police in connection with several carjackings on Saturday and Sunday. Las Vegas police said Sigler forced a couple to drive him to Long Beach.

Sigler is being held at Long Beach City Jail.

Owens praised the bus driver’s “quick thinking and alertness,” which he said helped officers “to prevent this from escalating.”