Standoff Suspect had Threatened to Blow Up White House

Police use a Taser to apprehend the suspect after a standoff that last more than eight hours. | Photo by Jonathan Alcorn

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Joe Moshe, reportedly the suspect involved in yesterday's all-day standoff in Westwood, had called 911 on Wednesday "threatening to blow the White House," the LAPD explained in a statement released last night.

The next day Secret Service came to Moshe's Westchester neighborhood to investigate and observed him driving his red Volkswagen Beetle. They requested LAPD officers to make a traffic stop. A patrol sergeant responded around 10 a.m., but Moshe, who also had two other warrants for his arrest, didn't stop, leading a short pursuit that ended in the driveway of the Federal Building in Westwood where he became trapped by two police cruisers.

Through the more-than-eight-hour standoff, officers tried to communicate with Moshe, but he refused to speak. Around 5:30, the SWAT team attempted using a "non-lethal chemical agent" that had about zero effect on Moshe. Over an hour later, a TASER was used successfully and Moshe was arrested without incident and brought to the hospital for minor abrasions, police said.

Moshe was a "sick man" and "depressed" according to his mother, who spoke to the Daily Breeze during the incident.