SWAT Team Ends 7-Hour Standoff After Realizing Nobody Was Home

A seven hour standoff between a SWAT team in Hayward, California-and what was eventually determined to be an empty residence-ended, when authorities realized the individual they thought may have sent a series of “suspicious notes” was not actually home. 

The bomb squad, including snipers and their bomb-sniffing K9s, were called out after deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office discovered a series of incendiary notes which indicated there were explosives inside of the home they were attempting to deliver eviction notices to, according to a report by KTVU. The events began around 10 am and ended at 5:30 pm on Tuesday evening.

Neighbors of the residence, which is located on the 27000 block of Gainesville Boulevard, were evacuated, and one even shared the contents of her text with KTVU: 

“When I text him I just said, ‘the bomb squad is here, cops are here’,” Jenny Raisler said, reading their text exchange on her phone. “I was just saying, ‘Look, if you went crazy and made a bomb, let me know so I can get out of here!’ He just said, ‘I have no idea what they’re [law enforcement] talking about’.”

Another surprised neighbor said, “Oh, he’s a good guy! And sometimes he fix [sic] our car… I don’t know what’s really going on.” 

After making several calls over a loudspeaker for the suspect to surrender himself and exit the premises, having the bomb squad enter the building several times, and reportedly sending in three different bomb-sniffing robots, law enforcement figured out that no one was home. 

The name of the suspect is not being released, according to KTVU, and authorities are still searching for him. 

Although there were no bombs on the site, weapons were reportedly recovered. Authorities are checking to see whether they were legally acquired.