Ventura County Star
VENTURA, Calif. — A suspect wanted in connection with homicides in Hanford and Hayward was arrested Friday at a Ventura condominium complex after a four-hour standoff with police.
Jason James Reyes and another person were taken into custody about 4 p.m. after they surrendered to authorities who had surrounded the Peppertree complex in the 1300 block of Saratoga Avenue, Ventura police Cmdr. Brock Avery said. The pair walked out of a residence and surrendered without incident, Avery said. No one was injured.
The complex was surrounded and evacuated around noon as police worked to capture Reyes, 35, of Adelanto, authorities said.
Ventura police learned about 11 a.m. that Hanford police had located a suspect wanted on suspicion of homicide in their city, Avery said. Hanford police had a warrant for Reyes' arrest, he said.
Investigators believed Reyes had a handgun, police said. After being briefed on the case, Ventura police took over the effort to serve the warrant at the residence, where the suspect was believed to be, Avery said.
The person who lives at the residence was not there, but authorities didn't initially know whether anyone else was inside, he said.
Police evacuated nearby condos, surrounded the complex, blocked traffic on Saratoga and redirected school buses bringing children home, Avery said. Oxnard police and Ventura County sheriff's deputies assisted as a helicopter hovered over the area.
Officials made announcements with a public address system to give the suspect the opportunity to surrender, which he eventually did, Avery said.
Reyes is suspected of fatally shooting a 32-year-old man walking March 5 in a Rite Aid parking lot with his 8-year-old daughter in Hanford.
Reyes also was wanted on a second homicide warrant issued by authorities in Hayward, an East Bay suburb near Oakland, officials said. Information on that case was not available Friday.
Reyes has a rap sheet in the county, court records show.
His record in Ventura County dates to 1995, when he was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance. He also was convicted of exhibiting a firearm and resisting a police officer in separate incidents that year.
His most recent conviction in Ventura County was in 2002 for dischargingafirearm. A jury found him not guilty of attempted mu rder.
Reyes used to live in Oxnard and has served a prison sentence, said Comdr. Juan Reynoso, of the Ventura police.
Details on the second person taken into custody Friday, why that person detained, and what led Hanford police to the Ventura condominium also were not available. PHOTOS BY ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Law enforcement authorities operate a robot at a Ventura condo complex where a homicide suspect was arrested Friday after a standoff. A Ventura police vehicle carries a man arrested at an apartment complex Friday after a long standoff with law enforcement.
Copyright 2012 Ventura County Star
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