Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Central Coast Standoff With Heavily Armed Man Ends Peacefully

Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies say the seized illegal weapons, drugs from home of wanted Central Coast man
(Santa Barbara County Sheriff'sOffice photo)
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies say the seized illegal weapons, drugs from home of wanted Central Coast man

SWAT team called out, but no shots fired

A tense situation on the Central Coast ended peacefully, when a wanted man known to have an arsenal of weapons was taken into custody without serious incident.

The story started two weeks ago, when Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies tried to arrest Miguel Alcazar of Santa Maria for an outstanding warrant. They tried to pull over his car, but he sped away, leading to a chase. Deputies say after Alcazar ran stop signs, and drove on the wrong side of the road they dropped the pursuit over concerns other motorists might get hurt.

On Thursday, they found him in his East Enos Drive apartment. But, he refused to surrender, and when deputies looked in a window, they saw a semi-automatic rifle. Deputies backed away, and called for a SWAT team. The team discovered Alcazar had used a ceiling crawl space to more to a neighboring unit, where he was found and arrested.

Deputies say they discovered a number of weapons and illegal drugs. He was arrested on a half dozen charges ranging from resisting arrest to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.