A nearly 11-hour standoff between Orange County authorities and an armed man in the parking lot of a strip mall finally came to a peaceful end Wednesday morning.
Calls about the incident, located in the 1900 block of 17th Street, first came into the Santa Ana Police Department just after 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Aerial footage from Sky5 showed the suspect, armed with a handgun in the parking lot, pacing back and forth, shouting at authorities who were barricaded behind their vehicles with guns drawn. The handgun appeared to be wrapped around the man’s hand with a green cloth.
A white pickup truck with an open driver’s side door could be seen just behind police lines. It is unclear if the vehicle belongs to the suspect, but police were seen searching the vehicle at one point.
All the stores in the strip mall were evacuated. East and westbound lanes of traffic on 17th Street from Mabury Street to Tustin Avenue were closed during the incident.
A police robot brought the suspect water and a cell phone. A police drone was also deployed to gain a better view of the man and his weapon.
A large crowd of people gathered nearby to watch the events unfold, including some of the man’s family, KTLA’s Samantha Cortese reported.
The suspect, whose name has not yet been released, finally dropped his firearm shortly before 3 a.m. and surrendered peacefully to law enforcement.
It remains unclear what prompted the standoff.