Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — A standoff that began Friday morning in West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms neighborhood ended six hours later when police went inside the home and did not find a person wanted in connection with a gun violence investigation.

Officers arrived about 9 a.m. at the two-story house in the 800 block of Wood Street. The person, described only as a male, was outside at the time and ran toward the home when he saw officers, police said. Believing he was inside the home, officers surrounded the residence and called in a SWAT team.

Sometime midmorning, the team fired beanbag rounds through a window to get the person’s attention, police said. Two upstairs windows of the home appeared broken. At one point, an unidentified woman who had come out of the house was helping police, pleading over a loudspeaker for the person to come out.

After hours of using a loudspeaker to persuade the person to surrender, and of firing tear gas, police went inside at about 3:30 p.m. and did not find anyone there.

Lt. Arturo Bautista said the man and the home were the subject of a search warrant, one of three being served Friday by local police and the FBI in connection with recent gun violence in Oakland. Bautista did not release specifics about the incidents. Police were planning to search the home for weapons and ammunition, he said.

While searching the home, police wore masks because of the thick tear gas inside, police said. Fire crews later came with fans to help clear the gas.

Wood Street between 8th and 10th streets and several surrounding streets were closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic for several hours.