Former Marine Reservist in Standoff and at Large

By: Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News

A 35-year-old man apparently slipped away before San Jose police could surround the house in which he had threatened to kill himself Saturday.

After receiving a call from the man late Saturday night, police officers entered the home on Hillsdale Avenue and found assault rifles.

The man remains at large. Police have declined to identify the man until they determine whether he committed any crimes.

The standoff "is resolved,'' Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said Sunday, but officers would continue to search for him and for evidence of criminal activity in the house.

"At this point we're not considering him armed and dangerous," Lopez said.

Neighbors were asked to evacuate and the street had been closed Saturday from about dawn to 11 p.m.

Family members told the Mercury News the man is a former Marine reservist who was distraught about losing his tile business and other financial troubles. He reportedly pointed a gun at his head early Saturday and told his fiancee and mother that he was going to "off myself,'' or force the police to kill him.

Lopez said police heard what sounded like a single shot from inside the house as they began to cordon off the area.

"We treated him like a barricade suspect,'' Lopez said, adding that officers tried to contact him several ways and deployed loud "noise flash devices.''

However, Lopez said, police now think he slipped out of the house while the police were securing the area. He called them about 9 p.m. from a phone near a local video store and gave police permission to enter the home. As many as three assault rifles were found inside.

Police rushed to the pay phone from which he had called but did not find him.

San Jose police remained patient during the standoff after last weekend's tragedy in Oakland, when a Special Weapons and Tactics team entered a house with a heavily armed suspect who had already killed two officers. Two more officers were killed in the ill-fated entry.