A 60-year-old man on probation was arrested Thursday, Sept. 19 after brandishing a homemade knife and making threatening remarks to staff at the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC).
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called to the OPCC at 503 Olympic Boulevard at 10:25 am on this day in order to investigate a report of a man brandishing a dangerous weapon.
When they arrived they spoke with OPCC staff who told them what had happened.
Apparently the suspect had previously been banned from the center and on this day he had decided to ignore the ban and show up at the facility.
The man had demanded that the staff at the OPCC feed him.
The staff refused to do this and escorted him outside whereupon the man pulled a “shank.” (A shank is a homemade knife made out of scrap of metal and sharpened like a knife typically with the bottom tightly wrapped with a cloth as a handle).
The man brandished it in a threatening manner at another client of the facility, while at the same time yelling racial slurs at the individual.
After hearing from the witnesses the officers arrested this homeless man and he was charged with brandishing a dangerous weapon.
The suspect was also on probation and this was revoked by the probation officer.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
