A 20-year-old Tustin man has been arrested for allegedly carrying a rifle or sawed-off shotgun, sparking an officer-involved shooting and hiding in an apartment complex for hours while multiple area schools were locked down.
The drama began shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday near the apartments in the 1600 block of Nisson Road in Tustin, but Henry Herrera was not apprehended until he was seen running away from the complex around 2 p.m.
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When officers first confronted a young man near the apartments in the morning, he had his weapon wrapped in a sweatshirt, Tustin Police Chief Charlie Celano said during a televised news conference before Herrera's arrest was later announced.
One of Celano's cops opened fire on the man, but it was unclear at that time if any gunfire was returned. In any case, the officer was not hit.
Celano provided a description of the suspect to live television viewers after police swarmed the area, locked down schools and told residents in that area's neighborhoods to remain inside.
Herrera was stopped near the area of the officer-involved shooting after a resident reported seeing him running away, according to Tustin police, who add he was held on suspicion of brandishing a firearm at a police officer and illegal possession of a firearm.
No weapon had been found as of late Thursday afternoon.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.