After an hours-long standoff with law enforcement at a La Quinta home on Sept. 26, a suspect turned his gun upon himself and died; a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.
"Negotiations and efforts for a safe surrender continued for several hours," Lt. Andy Martinez said in the release. "At 1 a.m., the SWAT team entered the home and found the suspect deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
The standoff started after Thermal Station deputies responded at 7:36 p.m. to a report of an assault with a handgun inside the home on West Harland Drive in La Quinta. When the deputies arrived on scene, they found two victims with minor injuries. They determined that no one had been shot, but the gun had discharged during a struggle over the weapon within the home.
Though deputies started to negotiate with the suspect, he refused to exit the home and surrender. With no end to the standoff in sight, the Riverside County Sheriff's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team responded to the scene and assumed tactical command. At that point, the SWAT team evacuated neighboring homes and shut down surrounding highways.
After SWAT negotiated for several hours to try to achieve a safe surrender, the impasse ended at 1 a.m. when the team entered the home and determined that the suspect had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
All those involved in the incident have been identified, and no additional suspects are wanted.
"Any and all events leading up to this incident are believed to have occurred within the home and within the family unit," Martinez said in the release.