Walnut Creek Homicide Suspect Surrenders After 19-Hour Police Standoff In Martinez
MARTINEZ (CBS SF) – The homicide suspect involved in an 19-hour standoff with SWAT officers in Martinez surrendered to police on Friday afternoon.
The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Greg Prokopowicz, is suspected of gunning down a 47-year-old woman in Walnut Creek at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the 1900 block of First Avenue.
The woman, identified as Roselyn Policarpio, had "a dating relationship" with the suspect, according Walnut Creek police spokesman Lt. Tom Cashion. Policarpio's last known addresses were in Martinez and Stockton.
After allegedly shooting Policarpio multiple times, Prokopowicz fled in a Chevrolet sedan, abandoning the car about a half-mile away on Lynvale Lane, police said.
Officers using dogs and a California Highway Patrol helicopter found the car about an hour later. The dogs were then able to track him to a home on nearby San Luis Road.
By then the suspect had left the area, but at about 7 p.m. Walnut Creek officers spotted him in Martinez riding in the passenger seat of a silver Mercedes, which they pulled over near the intersection of Howe Road and Arnold Drive, police said.
The Mercedes driver got out of the car and was detained, interviewed by officers and later released.
Prokopowicz did not get out of the car. He put a gun to his head and said he was going to "harm himself," police said.
At one point during the night, police said Prokopowicz accidentally fired a single shot from a handgun through car's windshield, but no one was struck by the bullet.
Sometime around 1:00 p.m Friday, Prokopowicz came out of the vehicle to retrieve a bottle of water, and refused orders to surrender. After grabbing the water bottle, he turned to run back to the car and was shot with a non-lethal sponge round, police said.
He was able to get back into the car and close the door. After another 90 minutes, negotiators convinced Prokopowicz to throw his gun and a knife out the window, police said.
After arming himself with another knife and refusing to throw it out, SWAT officer shot tear gas into the car and Prokopowicz came out seconds later.
He was arrested at 2:11 p.m., some 19 hours after the standoff began. "One might ask, 'why so long?' And the reason is preservation of life," said Cashion.
Prokopowicz was slightly injured in the ribs from the sponge round and was transported to a hospital. He was expected to be released and taken to the Martinez detention facility.
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