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Standoff Shuts Highway 99: Gunman Arrested After Incident on Manning Ave. Overpass.

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Tim Sheehan, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Apr. 11--FOWLER -- A standoff between a gunman and sheriff's deputies on a highway overpass ended peacefully Monday morning, but not before snarling rush-hour traffic for more than three hours on Highway 99.

The incident that closed the highway between Selma and Fowler began as a domestic dispute in Madera and ended on the Manning Avenue overpass when negotiators persuaded the man to surrender.

Alberto Parra-Reyna, 28, of Madera was arrested shortly after 11 a.m. on the overpass where, in a stolen red Ford van, he held police at bay, threatening to shoot himself or leap off the overpass, California Highway Patrol spokesman Matt Radke said.

Fresno County sheriff's Lt. Fernando Lopez said the chain of events started about 7 a.m. in Madera, where Parra-Reyna and his girlfriend clashed.

"They got into an argument because he didn't want her to go to work," Lopez said. "He took the keys to her van and drove off, and she called the police to report the van as stolen."

Radke said an officer saw the van heading south on Highway 99 near Clovis Avenue about 7:35 a.m. When the officer tried to stop the van, the driver pulled over and, while stopped, reportedly reached into the console and pointed an object at the officer.

The driver sped away, but then stopped again near Adams Avenue, again pointing what the officer believed was a handgun, Radke said.

He said the driver slowly drove south, prompting officers to place a spike strip on the highway just north of Manning to flatten the van's tires; after the van hit the strip, the driver pulled onto the Manning exit and stopped in the middle of the overpass above the highway.

"We know there's a handgun in the vehicle," Radke said in the standoff's early stages. "That's why we've turned this over to the Sheriff's Department for negotiations."

Lopez confirmed that deputies found a handgun inside the van after Parra-Reyna was arrested.

The CHP shut down Highway 99 in both directions just before 8 a.m. between Floral Avenue in Selma and Merced Street in Fowler; county roads such as Manning Avenue and Golden State Boulevard also were closed to keep motorists away from the area. The closures tangled highway traffic for miles in each direction; drivers scrambling to find detour routes also clogged many smaller county roads around Fowler and Selma.

Negotiators used loudspeakers to talk to Parra-Reyna in Spanish throughout the standoff, said Lt. Neil Dadian, a member of the sheriff's SWAT unit.

"He had pointed the gun at officers during the chase and after he was stopped," Dadian said. "At points he was putting the gun to his head and threatened suicide … and at one point he threatened to jump over the side [of the overpass]."

Parra-Reyna's only significant request "was that he wanted a cigarette; he said after he had a cigarette he would surrender," Dadian said. "But he yanked our chain on that a couple of times. ... He'd get out of the van and get on his knees and talk to us for a short time, then he'd decide he didn't like that and go back in."

At least four times during the standoff's final hour, Parra-Reyna -- clad in a black San Francisco Giants T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers -- emerged from the passenger door of the van, at times with his arms raised, other times appearing to hold something to his head. At least twice he kneeled on the ground before retreating to the van and closing the door.

Finally, at 11:08 a.m., Parra-Reyna climbed out of the van with his hands up and lay down on the ground; a cadre of SWAT deputies, with weapons drawn, moved in and handcuffed him.

As two of the negotiators and a SWAT officer walked him off the overpass, Parra-Reyna appeared to collapse and had to be carried to a waiting ambulance, where he was handcuffed to a gurney.

Highway 99 was reopened about 11:25 a.m.

Throughout the standoff, Dadian said, Parra-Reyna never brought the gun out of the van. "The gun stayed in the car," he said. "

Neither deputies nor Parra-Reyna fired any shots during the incident. "The crisis negotiators worked long and hard to work with this guy," Dadian said. "This was a nice, textbook case; it was nice that it worked out."

Lopez said Parra-Reyna was taken to University Medical Center in Fresno to be examined before being booked into the Fresno County Jail on suspicion of vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, brandishing a firearm and resisting arrest.

The reporter can be reached at tsheehan@fresnobee.com or (559) 622-2410.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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