An auto theft suspect was behind bars Friday following an hours-long El Cajon police standoff during which he allegedly threatened to light a motel room on fire.
The events that led to the fraught law enforcement confrontation began shortly after 6:30 p.m. Thursday, when officers learned that a GPS system in a stolen car was showing that it was in a parking lot at a Best Inn & Suites in the 1200 block of Oakdale Avenue, near Interstate 8 and North Second Street, according to the El Cajon Police Department.
Officers went to the motel and determined that the man who had parked the stolen late-motel Nissan sedan had entered a second-floor room rented by another person, ECPD Lt. Darrin Forster said.
Via images from a surveillance camera, police were able to identify the suspect as 43-year-old parolee Randy Hanks, the subject of a felony warrant for theft, Forster said.
When Hanks, who was alone in the room, emerged onto a balcony about 7:45 p.m., officers made contact with him and ordered him to surrender.
The suspect then reentered the room and allegedly barricaded the door with a mattress and other furniture, held up a cigarette lighter and a can of lighter fluid, made suicidal statements and shouted that he would set the building on fire if officers entered.
Police then called in crisis negotiators and evacuated the rest of the motel.
After refusing repeated orders to give himself up, Hanks walked outside shortly after 10 p.m. and was taken into custody without further incident. He was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of auto theft and parole violation.
City News Service contributed to this article.