Police identify man blamed for Lower Valley SWAT standoff

Police identified the man blamed for a SWAT standoff early Monday morning on the 8900 block of Otyokwa as 31-year-old Johnathan Salas.

Officers arriving at the home at about 2:30 a.m. were investigating a family violence call. They were met by 24-year-old Darlene Torres, who told them she had been locked out of the home by Salas, her common law husband.

Torres told officers Salas assaulted her, then locked himself inside the home with their three children, police said.

Officers called the SWAT team after Salas allegedly refused to come out of the house. They were worried about the “potential danger posed to the children inside the home.”

Salas walked out of the house only after SWAT officers breached the doors of the residence, police said.

Officers booked Salas into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $15,000 bond and charged him with “Assault Family Violence: Impeding Breath.”