Hours-long standoff ends with arrest after meat cleaver-wielding man threatens neighbors
REDDING, Calif., — Authorities say reports of a vandalism involving a meat cleaver-wielding man led to an hours-long standoff at a Redding senior-living apartment complex yesterday afternoon, Thursday, March 31.
Already well known to officers due to prior violent contacts, the alleged suspect, 69-year-old Melvin Rose, was eventually arrested after exiting his home after SWAT members deployed chemical agents into his apartment.
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City of Redding police officers were dispatched to the Kutras Gardens Apartments, a 55+ community located at 540 South Street around 2:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a vandalism, Redding Police Lieutenant Danny Smetak has since reported.
Hearing the dispatched call and immediately recognizing the identified suspect, members of Redding PD’s Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT) responded to the scene to assist. The team, which has had several prior contacts with Rose, consists of Redding PD officers and mental health clinicians from Shasta County Health and Human Services.
Reports of a barricaded standoff involving a man armed with a meat cleaver led to a multi-agency response that lasted for several hours yesterday afternoon. Redding PD photo
As officers were investigating the reported vandalism, Rose exited his apartment holding a large meat cleaver and began walking toward his neighbors while threatening them, according to Smetak.
Seeing Rose angrily advancing toward his neighbors with the meat cleaver, CIRT officers immediately intervened, which diverted his rage away from them and enabled them to flee to safety.
Rose then refused to follow officers’ commands to drop the meat cleaver and fled back into his apartment while still armed with the weapon, barricading himself inside.
Based on the circumstances officers requested additional resources, at which time members of RPD’s Special Weapon and Tactics (SWAT) team and Detective Division, along with Shasta County sheriff’s deputies, Shasta County Bomb Team, Redding Fire Department, and American Medical Response all responded to the scene to assist.
Officials spent more than five hours trying to coax 69-year-old Melvin Rose from his barricaded apartment. He eventually exited the residence after SWAT members deployed chemical agents into his apartment. KRCR photo
Over the next five hours officers were seen evacuating other nearby apartments while officials attempted to engage Rose via a loudspeaker, but the barricaded man refused to surrender.
SWAT members were eventually seen lobbing chemical agents into Rose’s apartment, which caused him to come out where he was swiftly taken into custody without further incident.
As a result of the investigation, Rose was arrested and transported to an area hospital for a mental health evaluation and medical clearance.
KRCR Channel 7 Chief Photographer Adam McAllister captured the exact moment when Rose exited his apartment, threw up his hands in rage, and then surrendered to officials. KRCR photo
KRCR Channel 7 Reporter Anwar Stetson and Chief Photographer Adam McAllister were on scene throughout the dramatic ordeal and later spoke with Kutras Gardens resident, Michael Bradley, who said Rose was well-known to the police due to previous calls in the past.
“This guy gets off his medication every once and a while. He doesn’t take them like he’s supposed to, and he goes crazy,” Bradley explained, saying Rose had lived at the apartments for more than a year.
“Yesterday, he backed me up the driveway with about a 10-inch fixed-blade (knife) and I had to pick up a rock to defend myself,” he continued, adding, “If I hadn’t picked up the rock, he would’ve kept coming at me. Then, he punched a hole through the neighbor’s screen door.”
Although it was not immediately clear if Rose was booked into jail, Smetak said he faces charges of attempted assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, resisting officers with threats of violence, delaying a peace officer, and vandalism.
Melvin Rose was arrested after an hours-long standoff that involved multiple law enforcement and emergency response agencies yesterday afternoon. Redding PD photos
Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Redding Police Department at (530) 225-4200. Callers can remain anonymous.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 51, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and operates Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS). Both are stringer organizations, providing breaking news coverage and community interest stories for other mainstream media organizations throughout the two regions they serve.
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.