An employee at a Pasadena diner showed a gun to a co-worker, reportedly holed up in the bathroom, then fled Monday, but police later found him in Los Angeles.

A caller reported an armed employee was possibly barricaded at Reyn. After attempts to contact the man failed, Pasadena police entered the diner at 635 N. Lake Ave. 3 1/2 half hours later only to find no one was there.

Then police received information where he might be and tracked him to northeast Los Angeles.

“The subject was taken into custody at 12:30 (p.m.),” Pasadena police spokesman Lt. Jason Clawson said. “He had previous convictions, and we found him armed with a handgun.”

Lt. Pete Hettema said 45-year-old Romualdo Cabrera of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of being a felon with a gun.

The man who created the commotion is a busboy at the diner, according to co-workers.

Hettema said there were several employees Monday morning at the diner, which had not opened for business yet.

At some point, Lt. Mark Goodman said the suspect displayed a firearm and said something to another employee.

“It seems he is suffering from a mental health emergency,” Goodman said before Cabrera was found.

Goodman said the co-worker fled and notified police at 7:15 a.m.

Other employees told officers the man was acting strange, looked out through the blinds and thought people were after him, according to Lt. Hettema.

The department’s crisis negotiation team and SWAT headed to the diner. Pasadena firefighters were staged at the nearest fire station.

Officers called the diner and the man’s cellphone but received no response. They ordered him to come out of the business.

Sara Yeamans, who works at the diner, said she was about to walk out the door of her home when she received a call from another co-worker telling her: “Don’t come to work. Something is going on with our busboy. Something weird is happening and the police are here.”

Yeamans didn’t know which busboy had barricaded himself in the business.

“I thought is everybody OK? Is he going to be OK? I’m afraid for his life,” she said.

Shortly before noon, SWAT team members and a police dog entered the diner.

“After numerous attempts to establish communication with the person, the decision was made to clear the location,” Goodman said.

The place was empty.

Police didn’t say who tipped officers about the suspect’s location Los Angeles.