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Armed Man Commits Suicide After Barricading Himself In Cell Phone Store
Photo by Peggy Archer via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
A man who previously robbed a La Crescenta Rite-Aid committed suicide yesterday after barricading himself in an adjacent cell phone store,the L.A. Times reports.
The unidentified man first entered the Rite-Aid at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon demanding a prescription. When the pharmacist refused, the man brandished a gun and ran off with the prescription, according to ABC 7. He then ran to the nearby Connect Wireless store and ordered everyone out, barricading himself inside.
Sheriff's deputies surrounded the store and tried to coax the man into ending the standoff. One local teenager apparently called the store's phone number and briefly talked to the suspect.
"Is there any way I can come in, and he's like, 'Dude, I got a gun, and the place is held up. All the shopping areas are cleared out,' and I'm like oh, OK," Ryan Kacer of Tujunga said to ABC 7.
When a SWAT Team finally stormed the store at 9:45 p.m., they found the man dead. A tweet sent out by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department confirmed the grim discovery:
#LASD @SEBLASD entered La Crescenta location. Suspect inside deceased apparently by his own hand. No shots fired by @LASDHQ
— LASD CrescentaValley (@CVLASD) November 30, 2013
UPDATE 12/1: City News Service has identified the man as Shawn David Weissenborn, 33, of Santa Clarita.
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