FAIRFIELD (KRON) – Some tense moments for police in the North Bay as an armed man barricaded himself inside a convenience store.
The man is now in police custody, but there was a large police response at the scene in Fairfield earlier in the day.
The area was swarmed as a man armed with a gun locked himself inside but officers are thankful they were able to end the standoff peacefully.
SWAT officers and crisis negotiators took over a 7-11 where the man with a handgun was barricaded.
Police say the 3-hour standoff began around noon when the man left a nearby fast food restaurant, went into the convenience store and then locked himself inside the bathroom.
“Everyone inside the convenience store ran out. Our officers set up a perimeter around the store tried to make contact with the person tried to get them to come out with no avail,” Lieutenant Matt Bloesch, with the Fairfield Police Department, said.
Police asked people to avoid the busy intersection of Central Way and Pittman Road.
It was not initially known if there were hostages inside the 7-11.
That’s when SWAT and crisis negotiators were called in. Police say their number one concern was safety.
“This is a very busy intersection, especially on a getaway day, the restaurants here are very full lots of hotels in the area we want to make sure that nobody is injured in any way,” Bloesch said.
There were no injuries and police ended this standoff around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
“As the SWAT team made entry, the person came out of the bathroom with their hands up and peacefully surrounded,” Bloesch said.
Police have not yet identified the man and it’s still unclear why he barricaded himself inside the store.
The investigation continues tonight.