PLEASANT HILL — Police on Friday returned to the Pleasant Hill neighborhood they shut down a day earlier after a retired detective allegedly shot and injured his wife, and then barricaded himself inside his home until officers simply packed up and walked away.
The Pleasant Hill Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order for the Sherman Acres area around 5:30 p.m. Friday. In addition, both directions of Monument Boulevard were closed between Contra Costa Boulevard and Mohr Lane, according to police.
Just after midnight, police announced they had obtained a warrant for 40-year-old Chunliam Saechao after determining he posed a “danger to the public.” The Central County SWAT team and crisis negotiators were at his home working to arrest him.
The shutdown was the second in less than 24 hours.
Around 7 p.m. Thursday, officers found a woman suffering from minor injuries while conducting a welfare check at a home in the 200 block of Cleopatra Drive. Police said her husband – a retired Pittsburg detective – had fired a shotgun at her as she tried to enter the garage.
The woman was treated for her injuries at a hospital and was expected to recover, police said.
Police on Thursday blocked access to the Sherman Acres area, as well as section of Monument Boulevard near the neighborhood. The Central County SWAT team surrounded the home and crisis negotiators tried to contact the man, but he did not respond.
On Friday morning, police announced an end to the hours-long standoff without taking Saechao into custody, leaving some residents feeling abandoned and unsafe.
While he remained a suspect in the shooting, he “was not an immediate threat to the general public,” according to police.
Saechao remained inside the home Friday and posted disturbing and threatening messages to social media. One showed him wearing a ballistic vest with what appeared to be a rifle strapped to his right side. The caption read “only for self defense.”
Police on Friday night said the decision to seek a warrant for Saechao’s arrest was spurred in part by his posts.
A woman who runs a home day care center in the neighborhood said “not really” when asked if she felt safe.
“I feel like they (police) should have done more than they did, and we don’t understand why they didn’t do more,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.
Staff writers Rick Hurd and Nate Gartrell contributed to this report. Check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com