Man Prompts Hours-Long Standoff at Carlsbad Motel After Waving Sword at Paramedics

A Carlsbad Police vehicle
Carlsbad police vehicle. Photo by Chris Stone

Carlsbad police arrested a 33-year-old man at a motel Sunday after he brandished a samurai sword at paramedics responding to an unrelated medical emergency.

Police were dispatched around 9:40 a.m. Sunday to the Carlsbad Village Inn, at 1006 Carlsbad Village Drive, according to the police.

Officers tried to make contact with the man, identified as Eliot Rauk, through the door of his motel room. He allegedly threatened to kill them, and police reported that he had been seen through the room’s window holding a handgun.

Some areas of the motel were evacuated, with the Carlsbad SWAT team responding shortly afterward.

Rauk barricaded himself in the motel room for several hours while the police department’s Crisis Negotiation Team attempted to contact him by phone.

At 2:36 that afternoon, after police reached him, Rauk exited his room and was safely taken into custody.

After a thorough search of the room, authorities found a samurai sword and a semiautomatic handgun.

Rauk was transported to Tri-City Hospital for a medical evaluation and will be booked into Vista Jail on suspicion of making terrorist threats, unlawfully brandishing a weapon and threats of violence against a police officer.

– City News Service

Originally posted 2023-10-23 01:46:14.