AndrewBlakeGarden Grove, CA – Police have released video of a mentally ill man who fired a rifle from inside a police car, after barricading himself inside on Tuesday night (video below).
Police said Steven Matthews, 33, was at a drug and alcohol treatment facility on Feb. 13 when he began acting psychotic.
A mental health worker at the facility did an evaluation on Matthews and determined he needed to be moved to another facility.
Police arrived at about 9:25 p.m. and put Matthews in the back of a police vehicle to wait for an ambulance to arrive, according to KCBS-TV.
Garden Grove Police Lieutenant Carl Whitney said Matthews was not under arrest or handcuffed in the back of the police SUV.
While he was supposed to be waiting, Matthews climbed into the front of the patrol vehicle, and grabbed a semi-automatic patrol rifle and fired a shot.
The shot went through the windshield and the officers took cover.
The officers did not return fire.
In the video released by police, Matthews can be heard muttering to himself “not gonna hurt anybody” and “let me out of here!”
The SWAT team was called and police blocked in the police vehicle Matthews had commandeered with three armored vehicles.
Officers also shot out street lights with less-lethal weapons to gain a tactical advantage, KTLA-TV reported.
The standoff lasted for four hours before Matthews surrendered at about 12:40 a.m. on Valentine’s Day.
Lt. Whitney said the Garden Grove police will investigate how Matthews was able to get the patrol rifle.
“At this point, it is unknown if the locking mechanism for the rifle failed or if the suspect somehow was able to trigger the release of the weapon,” Lt. Whitney said.
Matthews was arrested on suspicion of discharging the rifle and booked at the Orange County Jail.
Watch video of the start of Matthews standoff with the Garden Grove police below: