Neighbor recounts events leading up to SWAT standoff in Northeast El Paso

A man who says he was threatened by his neighbor in Northeast El Paso Tuesday night gives a first-hand account of what happened that night.

Daniel Sandoval, 53, allegedly threatened his neighbor, Victor Flores, before Sandoval barricaded himself in his house and then allegedly leading police on a car chase after driving through them.

“He was under the influence of something,” Flores told ABC-7 about how he thought Sandoval allegedly appeared. “And you know, he came up to me and he was just pissed off at something. I don’t know (what) and he just came up to me with a knife and threatened me with a knife.”

Flores says this isn’t the first time Sandoval has allegedly threatened someone.

“It’s like a couple of times,”Sandoval said. “The last time you know he threatened to kill his mom, and you know he’s just a trouble maker. You know what i’m saying that’s it? You know we don’t need people like that here.”

Flores said it all started Tuesday night when he went outside to throw away the trash and Sandoval confronted him with a kitchen knife.

Flores said Sandoval was upset because another neighbor cut him off while on the road.

Sandoval then barricaded himself in his home for hours. El Paso Police’s SWAT team was on the scene and tried to negotiate with him when around 1:30 a.m. On Wednesday he drove his truck through his garage door, through a rock wall and reportedly almost hit a few police officers while slamming into two police cars.

He led police on a chase until his truck died on Dyer.

Sandoval has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

ABC-7 also has learned Sandoval is a convicted sex offender from an incident that happened in California.