Burglar escapes standoff with police at Salinas firearm store

By Ricardo Tovar and Brooke Kinebrew

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    SALINAS, California (KSBW) — Salinas Police Department says an alleged burglar escaped after a multi-hour standoff at a Salinas business.

They say around 5 a.m. Saturday, someone broke into RAG Firearms in north Salinas by cutting a hole through the roof, triggering the alarm.

Officers arrived within minutes of the initial call.

Believing the suspect was still inside the firearm and ammunition shop, police called their Special Weapons and Tactics team.

After a search, the SWAT team confirmed no one was inside.

The standoff lasted until around noon.

“We use some of our technology, including drones, to try to identify where the suspect may be, and once all those options had been exhausted, a determination was made to call up the SWAT team that has added tools and equipment,” Salinas police Cmdr. Gabriel Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez believes the suspect escaped through the roof before officers arrived.

He says no one was harmed, no shots were fired and there’s no threat to the community.

“We need to identify if anything was taken from within the business,” he said. “We need to process the business to see if there’s any other evidence, whether it’s fingerprints or DNA or items that may have been left on scene by the suspect or suspects, and it’s just going to be an investigation is going to take some time.”

Cindy Vargas, property manager of the business complex, says her top priority was making sure no one was hurt.

She says the next steps are cleaning up and securing the property to prevent future incidents.

“Well, I was shocked, of course, and my main concern was just to make sure that everybody was safe,” she said. “My first reaction was to get over here as quick as I could, and of course, my daughter says, ‘Mom, what are you going to do? You can’t do anything.’ And I said, ‘Well, I just need to verify everyone’s safe and document any damage to the property.'”

Police are working to determine whether the suspect is a man or a woman and if anyone else was involved.

They are also urging the public to call 911 with any information.

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