Crime & Safety

Police Lose Contact with Hotel Gunman

Police remain at the Extended Stay Deluxe on East Francisco Boulevard where the United Markets stabbing suspect has holed up inside since Wednesday morning.

Negotiators lost contact with a gunman holed up in an East San Rafael hotel early this morning, after a standoff that's lasted 28 hours.

The gunman barricaded himself inside his room at the on East Francisco Boulevard mid-morning Wednesday after police tried to arrest the man for a San Rafael supermarket stabbing last Sunday.

negotiators tried throughout the day and night to talk the man out of his room — where he is believed to be holding his girlfriend — but the man remained in his room as of 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

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"We've not had contact with the suspect this morning for several hours," San Rafael police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher said.

Rohrbacher said they are considering suicide as one of many possibilities for the lost contact.

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SWAT team members and other law enforcement personnel, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have been on the scene for more than 16 hours, trying to bring the standoff to a peaceful close.

San Rafael Police said they went to the hotel around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday after receiving a tip the United Markets stabbing suspect was staying at the hotel. A single shot was fired by the man out of a second floor hotel room window — toward I-580 — prompting road closures and evacuation of the hotel.

A mile-long plus stretch of I-580, from Sir Francis Drake to Highway 101, was closed from mid-morning Wednesday until 12:40 a.m. Thursday, said Kurtis Skoog of the Sausalito Police Department.

Police were able to place a one-inch-thick piece of steel in front of the gunman's hotel room window, blocking his ability to fire any more shots toward I-580. This made it safe for I-580 to reopen, Skoog said early this morning.

The steel plate was provided by local company . "I've assisted with many emergencies, but never one like this," owner Gary Ghilotti said.

Surface streets near the hotel, however, remain closed at this time and are not expected to reopen until the standoff comes to an end.

Wednesday night’s rush hour commute was horrible for people trying to reach San Rafael via I-580 and to pass along Highway 101, according to the California Highway Patrol that reported commutes of three hours and more in the area.

The 46 hotel guests evacuated Wednesday morning from the hotel were relocated to a variety of San Rafael hotels. Rorhbacher said Extended Stay staff arranged for the guests to be moved at around 5 p.m.

The hotel staff are arranging a way for the guests to get any belongings that remain in the hotel.

A family of four from England trying to get home Wednesday night was unable to retrieve anything from the hotel room, extending their trip for at least one more day.

All the family's belongings, passports and their plane tickets were still in their second floor hotel room when they were evacuated. The mother and both teenaged children left with friends from San Rafael, the father said, as he remained behind, trying to gather their belongings in time to make a 7:15 p.m. flight from San Francisco International Airport to London.

Rohrbacher informed the father she could not let him in to their hotel room or arrange for the family to get their belongings, so the family’s nightmarish 6-week vacation has yet to end.

"This has been an awful holiday, and now we end it with this," the father said Wednesday, adding his son spent three weeks of their vacation in the hospital.

Ratu and Susana Sanchez were staying in the hotel two doors down from the suspect. Their 1-year-old daughter went out in the hall when the shooting occurred and they were asked to leave by police. 

"It was so scary," Susana said. "He started acting crazy."

No businesses in the area were evacuated Wednesday, said Rohrbacher, but employees and customers were told to stay inside the buildings early in the day. Later in the day, police asked the businesses to send employees home early to try and avoid the terrible traffic congestion.

Police are not going to release the name of the gunman or any information about him until the standoff is over, said Rohrbacher.

The gunman, described from the United Markets stabbing incident, is a white male in his 20s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with shoulder-length brown hair. He has a visible tattoo on one of his calves. There is no information from police about where he is from.

He took groceries from the supermarket last Sunday and walked out without paying, according to police. He was stopped and brought back inside the store, where he was questioned. During the questioning, he threatened an employee and held a knife to the person's throat, police said.

Police said he ran out of the store and several employees chased him. He unsuccessfully attempted to stab an employee from the meat section, but then stabbed a clerk in the chest. The victim's injuries were superficial, police said, and that he was treated and released.

Check San Rafael Patch throughout the day for more updates.


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