Roads and businesses were reopened Friday afternoon in Carlsbad after an hours-long SWAT standoff ended peacefully.
The standoff started at around 7:15 p.m. Thursday near the 2700 block of Loker Avenue West when a man used his car's communication system, similar to OnStar, to contact police saying that he was armed and going through a mental health crisis.
Police responded to the scene and found the man had barricaded himself in his car near a Staples store, Carlsbad Police Lt. Shaun Lawton said. The road was barricaded and several businesses were closed as "specially trained crisis negotiators" worked to resolve the situation.
The SWAT team along with the FBI were negotiating with the man using the vehicle's calling system as the man did not have a cellphone and only spoke Russian, Lawton said.
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"It's been very, very difficult to communicate with him both with the language barriers, and the third parties involved and he has not given us a lot of information. So that has made it very difficult," Lawton told NBC 7.
Police were also in communication with the man's wife and daughter.
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After about 16 hours, Carlsbad police said the incident had ended peacefully at 11:30 a.m.
“This incident really shows the value of de-escalation training, especially related to people who may be having a mental health crisis," Carlsbad Police Chief Mickey Williams said.
Several roads including Loker Avenue and a portion of Palomar Airport Road were temporarily closed. Some businesses in the area were also closed.
If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting "Home" to 741741.
