A gunman who reportedly took an employee hostage and barricaded himself inside a Metro PCS store in the Palms area gave up just as a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team was about to enter the premises, authorities said.
People in neighboring businesses started calling police between 6 and 6:15 p.m. to report voices they heard from the Metro PCS store led them to believe a robbery involving hostages was happening inside the store near the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Delmas Terrace, said Sgt. M. Hernandez of the LAPD’s Pacific Station.
Arriving officers determined there was enough information to believe a crime was occurring, possibly a robbery that had deteriorated into a barricaded suspect with hostages, Hernandez said.
A SWAT team contained the area and devised a plan to enter the business, he said. “We never made contact with anybody inside the store.”
As SWAT officers took their positions at about 9:30 p.m., the employee first left the business followed by the suspect who was taken into custody, Hernandez said.
There were no injuries, he said.
