A Watsonville man is in custody following an intense search by multiple law agencies Monday after reportedly threatening a woman’s life and her baby when he showed up at her Ford Street apartment with an assault rifle at 11am.
Javier Lopez, 31, was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on charges of burglary, making terrorist threats, false imprisonment, destroying evidence, brandishing a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He is being held without bail, jail records showed.
Watsonville Police called for back up from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol in a search that fanned out around Ford Street, Ramsay Park, Walker Street and around Landmark Elementary School.
Officers set up watch on numerous intersections and nearby trails along Struve Slough.
In less than an hour, two Watsonville Police officers found a black AR-15 assault rifle beneath the Walker Street Bridge beside a grey sweatshirt as described by a witness.
Police radio dispatchers described the suspect as a Hispanic male in his 30s, medium build, at 5-feet, 10-inches tall.
Sgt. Juan Trujillo, who worked feverishly with at least seven CHP officers in setting up a perimeter to help snare the suspect. He said they eventually caught up with Lopez inside the perimeter they had established and arrested him without incident.
