'Unstable' man prompts evacuation of buildings Crimes & Incidents, posted by Editor, Palo Alto Online, on Oct 1, 2012 at 6:01 pm
After closing roads to traffic and evacuating buildings in south Palo Alto Monday afternoon, police took a mentally unstable man into custody after an hours-long standoff.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, October 1, 2012, 4:25 PM
Posted by Phil, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Oct 1, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Sounds like a well planned, professional, and effective plan led to a safe conclusion of this potentially volatile situation. Compliments and respect to the officers involved. Hope the unstable man gets the help he needs.
Posted by Rosalind, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Oct 1, 2012 at 6:37 pm
I am one of the residents in this community and it has been an agonizing afternoon for all of us. There are still cops here making sure its safe and residents are not being allowed in. What a shocking day,
Posted by Sally, a resident of the Greenmeadow neighborhood, on Oct 1, 2012 at 10:01 pm
PAPD call on emergency notification system says Bomb Squad and SWAT Team have deemed the area safe and residents can return home now. Vehicular traffic may be restricted for another hour or so.
Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I usually brush off the congratulations that people automatically dash off in these online comments in support of the police ... or against them for that matter.
In this case it occurs to me that we should really congratulate and be proud of Palo Alto Police and others for handling this calmly and peacefully. Three cheers!
There are some places in our country that we seem to read about regularly where people who react a bit weird, slow, poor, foreign, defensive, offensive, etc end up dead and full of bullets. Let be happy that Palo Alto is still part of the calm civilized part of the world even if we could stand some major improvements.
Posted by Misha, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2012 at 8:30 pm
PAPD are to be commended not only for the very able handling of this situation but for the foresight in educating themselves on responding when a person involved is not mentally stable. Good for the police to want to serve all citizens well.
Posted by guns, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 3, 2012 at 11:14 am
Cops called in SWAT and the bomb squad because the perp claimed to have bombs and guns. Turns out he did not, but better safe than sorry, especially in a country were guns are very easy to acquire.
Posted by Jan H., a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 3, 2012 at 7:10 pm Jan H. is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
If this had been San Jose, I am sure the situation would have ended with one or more fatalities. The unstable perpetrator was extremely lucky to have been in PA.
Posted by Jan H., a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 4, 2012 at 10:22 pm Jan H. is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
More? How can you say that? Remember a few years ago in San Jose, when SJPD got a call about two toddlers wandering down East Santa Clara street? An officer discovered which condo they came from, and when their mother raised a cleaver-like vegetable peeler, he shot her to death? If that had happened in Palo Alto, the woman would never have been shot, or even tasered.
PAPD never gets trigger-happy, at least not historically, and some pretty scary situations are resolved without fatalities. It is a miracle no one was injured by this mentally unsound maniac, and that the police were able to remove him peacefully.
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