Two men were arrested on Sunday, April 27 after making threats of gun violence at Santa Monica Place.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the area of Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue at 5 pm on this day in order to investigate reports of two men who had been threatening to shoot Santa Monica Place mall security personnel.
Upon arrival the officers detained the two suspects, and then spoke with the security personnel who said that these two suspects had caused a disturbance at the Nike store located at the mall.
They continued to tell the officers that when they (the security personnel) had intervened the first suspect had pulled out a 750 ml bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey and held it over his shoulder in a threatening manner.
He then began reaching into his bag and said, “I have a 22, and I’ll shoot you!” The officers decided to arrest these two men.
One of these men initially complied with the officers’ requests but after he had been placed into handcuffs and was being escorted to the police vehicle he became belligerent and attempted to head-butt an officer.
The officers managed to get this 34-year-old Los Angeles resident into the police vehicle but once inside the vehicle, he began banging his head against, and attempting to kick out the windows.
This man was charged with resisting arrest and public intoxication.
The other suspect (the primary instigator of the trouble) had not been compliant and had forcibly resisted arrest.
The officers eventually overpowered this 21-year-old man, of an unknown residence, and he was placed into handcuffs, arrested, and charged with criminal threats, resisting arrest and public intoxication.
Bail for the first suspect was set at $10,000 while the second had bail set in the amount of $50,000.
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.
