Homeless man aims fake rifle at passing cars on busy Glendale street
A homeless man pointed a toy assault rifle at passing vehicles in Glendale on Tuesday, prompting a large police response that ended with the man's arrest.
Witness reports began coming in at 6:25 a.m. that the man, later identified as 57-year-old John Schwartz, was pointing an AK-47 assault rifle at passing vehicles at Los Feliz Road and Brand Boulevard, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
Fearing that Schwartz would fire what they thought was a real gun, Lorenz said several motorists swerved to avoid his aim. A dozen police units arrived within two minutes and surrounded Schwartz, Lorenz said, shutting down the intersection. Schwartz immediately complied with police orders to put down the fake gun.
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-- Veronica Rocha, Glendale News-Press / Times Communtiy News
Photo: Officer Leticia Chang in the background with the suspect. Credit: Glendale Police Department
EDITOR'S PICKS:
Considering the potential danger in this situation, I applaud the City of Glendale's police department and these officers for exercising cautious restraint in dealing with this homeless (and obviously mentally impaired) person.
LAPD should take their training from the City of Glendale's PD.
Posted by: Ruskinite | February 23, 2011 at 09:22 AM
The drivers in Glendale swerve all of the time and all over the place to get through traffic anyhow. People who didn't see the homeless man probably thought it was business as usual.
Posted by: Lawrence | February 23, 2011 at 09:24 AM
If he was a person of color, he would of been shot on sight.
Posted by: Ray | February 24, 2011 at 03:17 PM