Pepper balls used to end standoff

Four suspects were arrested early Monday morning in an incident in Garden Grove that featured the use of non-lethal pepper balls.

According to Sgt. Luis Payan of the Garden Grove Police Department, at about 12:18 a.m. an officer spotted two males running from a closed business in the 10000 block of Garden Grove Boulevard in the Korean business district.

The officer followed the pair into a commercial parking lot, where the suspects got into a vehicle. The officer approached and saw there were four people in the automobile, and one of the occupants had a handgun.

Additional police were summoned and they surrounded the vehicle. Two complied with demands to leave the auto, but two remained inside.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department brought in a K-9 dog, but the loud barking didn’t have an effect, according to Sgt. Payan. Finally, pepper balls – using an irritant similar to that in pepper spray – were fired into the vehicle and the two were taken into custody.

The handgun spotted by the first officer was a replica semiautomatic AirSoft handgun without the required orange cap, thereby clearly resembling a “real” handgun, said Sgt. Payan.

A search turned up graffiti tools; suspects admitted to tagging nearby businesses. Two of the suspects had outstanding arrest warrants for vandalism. All four were arrested on charges of possession of a replica handgun, possession of graffiti instruments, vandalism and resisting arrest.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (714) 741-5704.