SWAT Standoff In Venice: Armed, Barricaded Suspect Arrested

VENICE, CA — An armed, barricaded suspect and SWAT standoff went on for several hours Saturday, where police used tear gas at a trailer where the suspect was holed up, Los Angeles police officials said.

The suspect was eventually taken into custody, Officer Rosario Cervantes of the Los Angeles Police Department told Patch. The suspect's name was not immediately released. No further suspect information was provided.

Police set up a perimeter in Oakwood around 9 a.m. Saturday near the First Baptist Church of Venice, at 685 Westminster Ave., near Oakwood Avenue, police said. Helicopters were circling the neighborhood for hours during the standoff.

The suspect was barricaded inside a trailer located at the church parking lot and had apparently threatened a tow truck driver who was hired to remove the vehicle, according to the Venice Current. A witness at the incident told media that the suspect was a homeless man from Colorado who had moved to the Venice area.

The unmarked trailer and racing car hauler appeared in the neighborhood in late February, where a Black Lives Matter street art mural installation from the city of Los Angeles was added only days before.

RELATED: The 'Spiritual Battle' To Preserve Venice's Historic Black Church

Neighbors have claimed that someone from media mogul and championship racing team owner Jay Penske's company dropped off the trailers on the property — then closed the gates — in an area that they have tried to clean up and protect.

The church properties are just blocks from the beach, locked in legal limbo as a resistance movement to stop developing the property continues.

The church at 685 Westminster Ave. opened to the community in 1927. It's the oldest Black church in Venice. Bishop Horace Allen sold it in January 2017, the last month the church was open to the public. Allen died in December 2020.

Former church members sued Allen, saying the $6.3 million real estate deal with Penske of Penske Media Corp. — publisher of Rolling Stone and Variety — and his wife, former supermodel Elaine Irwin, was fraudulent.

A judge ruled the deal was fraudulent, saying Allen violated his fiduciary duty to the church and committed fraud. But the sale to Penske was still considered a done deal at that point.

The church as an organization is still owned by Allen, who moved the congregation to Westchester. Allen said in 2018 that the Black community was shrinking in Venice and the church was in debt. It's now the same church but operates under another name: F.B.C.V. Worship Center.

Penske then sold the church property to Lee Polster and Robert Thibodeau in 2020. In October of that year, just as the sale was finalized, someone set fire to the church. It's unclear if it was connected to the sale.

Fires connected to homeless encampments have broken out throughout the area in recent weeks, including along the boardwalk in Venice, in alleys and behind homes, at Penmar Golf Course, and most recently at the Ballona Wetlands.

Residents Saturday complained of the ongoing crime and helicopters in the area via Twitter:

i'm near that oakwood park in venice. so loud since early morning. venice (and LA) is becoming unlivable..
— The Big Long (@the_big_long) April 10, 2021

That's live Venice SWAT team footage right there, can't get that anywhere else pic.twitter.com/RYOD3U8rj7
— Ethan Podell (@epode_) April 10, 2021

Why send one SWAT when you can send two? Someone barricaded with weapons on my street in Venice. It's a mess. Hope it ends peacefully. pic.twitter.com/Mq90JYhbgt
— Paul Tomkinson (@paultomkinson) April 10, 2021

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