SWAT team called in to resolve armed standoff in Sonoma

Alex Baker
·2 min read

(KRON) — A SWAT team was called in along with hostage negotiators early Thursday morning to resolve an armed standoff with a barricaded subject. The Sonoma Police Department received a call at 12 a.m. reporting a violent domestic situation in the 1200 block of Broadway.

Sonoma PD deputies responded and met with the victim and identified significant domestic violence charges. Deputies attempted to contact the suspect who shares a living space with the victim.

As deputies approached, the suspect became verbally resistant, police said, and retreated behind a closed apartment door. The suspect, in addition to domestic violence charges, was alleged to have possessed an AR-15 style rifle within the previous few days.

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Deputies remained outside the apartment while assisting deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Sonoma Valley sub-station and main office responded to assist. Deputies contacted the suspect by phone, but he again refused to come out of the apartment.

Due to the circumstances — allegations of physical domestic violence, refusal to come out of the apartment, and allegedly being armed with a rifle — deputies designated the situation as an armed and barricaded situation. Sonoma PD requested assistance from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigations unit along with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Unite (SOU).

Detectives conducted further interviews and were granted arrest and search warrants for the suspect, identified as 45-year-old Levar James Gilbert of Sonoma. The following charges were issued for Gilbert:

  • Felony domestic violence

  • Felon in possession of a firearm

  • Threat to commit crime/terrorist threat

  • Attempted murder

  • False imprisonment

  • Kidnapping

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s SOU, consisting of Hostage Negotiators (HNT), SWAT team, Explosive Ordinance Team and command structure responded. A SWAT team replaced patrol officers and evacuated other residents of the complex. HNT members began negotiating with Gilbert. After several hours, the suspect complied and was arrested without incident, at around 7:25 a.m.

Gilbert was booked into the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility and is being held on $1,250,000 bail.

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