A 57-year-old homeless man sleeping in a beach restroom was arrested after threatening a Santa Monica City employee with a gun once he was roused.
On Saturday, March 21, in the early morning hours, officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 2800 block of Santa Monica Beach to investigate a report of a disturbance.
A Santa Monica City employee had made the report.
Upon arrival the City employee told the officers that he had been cleaning the beach restrooms when he had chanced upon a homeless man who had been using the restrooms as sleeping accommodation.
The City employee told the officers that he had attempted to awaken the sleeping suspect and when the man arose he began to curse at the City employee and had then threatened to shoot the City employee with what appeared to be a black gun that he had removed from a bag that he was carrying.
The officers went in search of the employee and soon discovered the suspect nearby.
The officers spoke with this man and he confessed to have made the threats.
The suspect was charged with making threats and using an imitation firearm to make threats. Bail was set at $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.
