Police Kill Armed O.C. Man After Standoff

A 20-hour standoff ended Thursday when Westminster police shot to death a man they said had threatened family members and fired at officers with a shotgun.

Javier Escamilla, 29, died about 5:45 p.m. at his family’s home in the 6800 block of Wee Way.

“We’d been trying and trying and trying to get him to peaceably give up and talk to us,” said Lt. Al Panella of the Westminster Police Department. “We’d been trying to initiate a dialogue, but he just refused to talk.”

The incident began about 9 p.m. Wednesday when Escamilla’s father went to the Police Department’s front counter to report that his son, armed with a handgun and shotgun, was “causing a disturbance” inside the family home, according to police. Upon arriving at the scene, they said, officers discovered that the rest of the family had fled, leaving Escamilla alone.

“It’s possible that he was using narcotics as well,” Panella said. “We’re not exactly sure what caused the situation. We made sure the family was safe and accounted for, and then we dealt with him.”

After obtaining a search warrant about 10 a.m. Thursday, Panella said, members of the department’s SWAT team spent much of the day trying to talk with Escamilla by telephone and with a bullhorn. About 5 p.m., he said, they lobbed tear gas into the house in an attempt to force him outside. As they checked a window, however, Escamilla fired at them with the shotgun, Panella said.

“Luckily none were struck,” he said. “However, the officers did return fire and killed the suspect.”

Panella said he did not know how many officers were involved, nor how many times the man had been shot.

As in all officer-involved shootings, the incident has been reported to the Orange County district attorney’s office, which will investigate.