Tense Armed Standoff At Campbell Denny's Restaurant Ends
CAMPBELL (CBS SF) -- Police officers in Campbell late Friday afternoon safely took the suspect at the center of an armed standoff at a Denny's Restaurant into custody almost 11 hours after the incident started.
The standoff began around 5:30 a.m. at the Denny's located in the 2000 block of South Bascom Avenue.
Police said the incident began as an argument in the parking lot between the suspect and one of the employees. The suspect then followed the employee inside and threatened them with a gun.
The employee was able to escape and police called the restaurant to tell the other employees and customers inside to flee. They safely escape, leaving the gunman alone inside the Denny's.
Helicopter video showed two armored SWAT vehicles -- one from nearby Sunnyvale -- and several heavily armed officers encircling the restaurant at 8:22 a.m.
The standoff has shut down traffic in both north and southbound lanes of Bascom Avenue from Campbell to Dry Creek.
At times, the suspect could be seen on the roof and later in a doorway.
Neighbor Dani Neves lives directly across the street from the standoff.
"It's a little anxious. I can see the Denny's from where I live, so I'm a little nervous," Neves said with a frightened laugh.
Margie Docs is a hairdresser whose salon has been shut down because of the standoff. All of her canceled appointments means hundreds of dollars in lost income. But she said she didn't blame Campbell police for the lock down.
"I do not. It's for everybody's safety," said Docs.
"This is so uncommon for our area and its a frightening situation," said Robin Hamnet, who owns an shop across the street from the Denny's which was closed all day.
"It's hitting our business hard. We will havelost a couple of thousand dollars today," Hamnet said.
Police used an arsenal of weapons, including a robot and a drone.
Several times during the day, officers tried to flush him out using flash bang grenades.
Finally, late in the afternoon, the man appeared to give up. He walked out in a crouch and carrying a backpack.
Shortly before 4:30 p.m., Campbell police tweeted that the suspect was in custody and the standoff was over.
Officers fired a non-lethal round at him and sicced a police dog on him. Seconds later, the suspect was taken into custody.
So far, there's no word on whether officers recovered a gun.
The suspect was put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries.
No officers were hurt.
Campbell police received assistance from the Santa Clara and Sunnyvale police departments and the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office.
