Barricaded Probation Officer in Custody After Hours-Long Standoff

Lancaster, Los Angeles County, CA: A Los Angeles County probation officer who is possibly a U.S. Army veteran, was taken into custody early Friday morning after a lengthy standoff with authorities that began Thursday evening.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lancaster Station received two 911 calls at different times for a male white adult with a black beard wearing a black sweater holding a firearm on the corner of Oldfield Street and Fig Avenue in the city of Lancaster. Deputies did not locate the man after the first call around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, according the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station Watch Commander.

Deputies located the man and made contact with him in front of a house at the location after the second call was received around 7:10 p.m. reporting a male with a gun with the same description.

Deputies discovered the suspect was holding a rifle, stated by witnesses to be an AR15, but the exact type of rifle is currently unconfirmed by the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.

The suspect then ran inside the house, believed to be his home, prompting deputies to quickly request additional units for containment along with the Bearcat and M.E.T. (Mental Evaluation Team).

According to information gathered from the scene, the suspect is a probation officer on stress leave who had not been to work in three years. He reportedly walked out of work after his father died.

The standoff lasted all night and ended when the suspect, identified by the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station as Arleth Hein, surrendered to deputies somewhere between 3:36 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18.

The suspect was taken into custody without injury.

Deputies from the Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau deployed several less-lethal rounds, flash bangs and canisters of teargas to finally end the incident.

A search warrant was served at the home to confirm additional weapons in the suspect’s possession, according to the Watch Commander. Hein’s military service had not yet been verified by the sheriff’s department.

Key News Network team reporting by: Eyad Alawi and Anthony Cheval, Video Journalists / KNN