Man barricaded in cellphone store is dead, authorities say
An armed man who barricaded himself in a La Crescenta Verizon store Friday and was involved in an hours-long standoff with authorities is dead, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s station Twitter feed, “Suspect inside deceased apparently by his own hand.” Sheriff’s deputies fired no shots, according to the station.
The standoff began about 5 p.m. when the man barricaded himself in the cellphone store at the Marketplace Shopping Center in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard, said a spokeswoman at the sheriff’s station.
For hours, crisis negotiators tried to resolve the incident peacefully, sheriff’s officials said. There were no hostages.
The shopping center, which was evacuated, “will remain closed until further notice,” Sgt. Burton Brink, a spokesman for the sheriff’s station, said on Twitter. Authorities would be working to open area streets closed during the standoff as soon as possible, he said.
Before entering the cellphone store, the man apparently first robbed a Rite Aid in the same shopping center, one shopper told The Times.
Rachel Belofsky of Sunland said that when she and her mother walked into the Rite Aid, she heard staff members calling the police.
She went to the pharmacy and said the “pharmacist was shaking” and told her “the guy robbed them for drugs” and ran out of the store.
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