Barricaded felon comes out dancing
CLOVIS – After a nearly five-hour standoff, a Clovis man who allegedly attacked his neighbor and attempted to set his own residence on fire was taken into custody Saturday afternoon.
Angel Aguilera, 47, barricaded himself in his home and poured gas around his house located on the 2400 block of Woodworth Avenue near the Sierra Vista Mall.
The incident began Saturday, when Aguilera nicked his neighbor with a knife and hit him across the arm with a wooden dowel. The man, however, did not go to the hospital for any kind of treatment.
According to Clovis police spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee, Aguilera went inside his home once police and SWAT teams arrived around 1 p.m, then poured gasoline on his porch and threatened to light his entire house on fire.
There were several attempts to get Aguilera to come outside of the home. After repeated refusals, SWAT teams fired more than a half dozen canisters of tear gas, which finally forced the suspect to come out around 5:30 p.m.
Upon exiting the residence, Aguilera showed few signs of suffering from the tear gas, wearing headphones and dancing as officers apprehended him.
“We had a lot of folks working together to get the man safely out of the house,” Stoll-Lee said. “That’s what happened and we’re grateful that’s how it turned out.”
Aside from the alleged assault charges, Aguilera was a wanted felon who had a $500,000 burglary warrant. He is now being held on the existing burglary warrant and for assault with a deadly weapon.
