Crime & Safety
Police: SWAT Standoff Death in Kenwood Was Suicide
Murder victim found last week in Lake Hennessey in Napa County still not identified. Authorities suspect the killer was the man who died in the trailer incident.
The autopsy on the Napa man involved in a 19-hour standoff at a trailer in Kenwood Wednesday indicated that he died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, a Petaluma police lieutenant said.
Miguel Angel Garcia, 32, shot himself inside the trailer in the 200 block of Hoff Road and did not suffer any other gunshot wounds, Lt. Matt Stapleton said.
[Story: Man Wanted in Napa Is Dead After Lengthy Standoff at Trailer in Kenwood.]
Stapleton said last week it was unknown whether the wound was self-inflicted "or the product of law enforcement personnel's response to the gunfire from the suspect."
After 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office fired tear gas into the trailer, and Garcia responded by shooting "indiscriminately out of the trailer at SWAT personnel at the scene," according to sheriff's Lt. Brett Sackett who released the initial account of the standoff.
When more tear gas was fired into the trailer, the front door of the trailer opened and Garcia appeared, Sackett said.
"Perceiving a threat and fearing for their safety, SWAT team members engaged the suspect with their weapons" and Garcia fell to the ground, Sackett said.
The SWAT team and a medic approached Garcia and determined he was dead, Sackett said.
Stapleton said this afternoon an assault-style rifle was recovered in the trailer Garcia occupied right before his death, and that Garcia was not holding a weapon when he appeared in the doorway of the trailer.
The firing of tear gas into the trailer, Garcia's return fire, his self-inflicted gunshot wound and his collapse in the doorway was "one continuous event," Stapleton said.
During negotiations Wednesday with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's hostage negotiation team at the trailer, Garcia confessed to several violent felonies, including a murder, Sackett said.
On Thursday, the Napa County Sheriff's Office found a man's body in a rural area near Lake Hennessey in Napa County, sheriff's Capt. Steve Blower said. The man had been murdered within the past week, Blower said.
[Story: NEW Twist in Kenwood Shooting: Body Found of Man Believed Killed by Standoff Suspect.]
"During the negotiations with Garcia he revealed that he had killed a person in Napa County," Blower said.
The Napa County Sheriff's office has not yet identified the homicide victim.
Garcia was wanted in Napa County for child endangerment and firearm and narcotics charges.
Copyright © 2014 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
