Santa Rosa Man Arrested for Allegedly Making Numerous Criminal Threats Against Police and the Public
Photo: Stock Image
A Santa Rosa man is in police custody following numerous alleged incidents of criminal threats against the police and the public, followed by an hours-long standoff.
On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13, officers responded to a retail store in Coddingtown Center to investigate reports of a man allegedly calling the business 29 times in 30 minutes. The man allegedly made threats to employees, including one to set off explosives in the store.
The man later came to the store and allegedly brandished a knife at employees, but fled before police arrived. As he was leaving, he allegedly threatened to return and “stab someone,” police said.
As it turned out, Santa Rosa police were already familiar with the suspect, whom they identified as Alejandro “Alex” Fuentes, 56. Police say Fuentes had called 9-1-1 more than 100 times between October 12 and 13, threatening police department staff.
Officers reportedly tried to contact Fuentes at his apartment on the 1600 block of Herbert Street, but he refused to open the door and spoke with officers only through windows or from a balcony. Fuentes eventually told officers he would no longer speak with them and ignored their continued efforts to established contact.
Two officers remained at the scene in case Fuentes tried to leave, police said.
On the morning of October 14, officers returned to contact Fuentes again, but he refused to answer the door. Police later secured both a search and arrest warrant for Fuentes in connection with the alleged incident at the Coddingtown Center.
Santa Rosa PD’s Hostage Negotiations Team responded to the scene and spoke with Fuentes numerous times on the phone over the course of five hours, to no avail. At one point, Fuentes allegedly threatened to shoot officers from the balcony.
At this point, due to Fuentes’s escalating behavior, Santa Rosa police evacuated the surrounding apartments and SWAT personnel surrounded Fuentes’s apartment.
For another hour, SWAT personnel reportedly attempted to negotiate with Fuentes, but he refused to surrender.
SWAT personnel then deployed tear gas into Fuentes’s apartment and made entry by forcing through the front door. At that point, Fuentes reportedly surrendered without further incident.
Authorities searched his apartment and confiscated a knife believed to have been the one used in the brandishing incident at Coddingtown Center.
Fuentes was ultimately booked at the Sonoma County jail on a felony charge of making criminal threats, with bail set at $2 million, police said.
