SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KRON) – A home invasion in San Bruno lead to an hours long standoff with a burglar early Sunday morning. Nearby residents evacuated as police worked to get the man to surrender peacefully — which he finally did that afternoon.
Early Sunday morning, people who live in this San Bruno neighborhood woke up to a massive police scene. A man barricaded himself inside a home. People who have lived in this neighborhood for decades say this is unlike anything they’ve seen in their own backyard.
San Bruno police responded to a burglary at home on Poplar Avenue just before 6 a.m. Police got the people who live there out safely. The suspect stayed inside.
Neighbors woke up to police knocking on their doors, telling them to evacuate.
“I got a call that we had to evacuate the neighborhood, evacuate the building,” said neighbor Lawrence Saxton who has lived in his San Bruno home for over 40 years. “Police asking if they could get into my backyard, saying there was a disturbance in the home directly behind me.”
“Not something that usually occurs in this neighborhood. Pretty unusual,” Saxton added.
The San Mateo SWAT team and South San Francisco police assisted San Bruno police. They used several different tactics during the standoff.
“We heard a flash bang a couple minutes ago,” Saxton said.
A drone was also used to gain visibility of the home. Officers eventually ended up using Saxton’s roof as well.
“You can see the ladder going up,” Saxton said. “They put two police men with assault rifles up on my roof. Overlooking the house where this incident took place.”
The man surrendered around 12:30 p.m. Once police arrested him, there was a sense of relief amongst neighbors standing by.
“This guy was burglarizing one of our neighbors, we wanted him to be caught,” said San Bruno resident Lynn Clinton. “They were able to catch him. He’s unharmed. Nobody wants to see anyone get harmed.”
Investigators are now doing interviews with the people who live at this home to figure out what initially unfolded. There is still a lot more to learn. KRON4 is still waiting for an update from police.
