Police Identify Suspect In Bizarre Standoff Outside California Capitol

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A driver parked in the middle of the road outside the California Capitol on Monday sparked a bizarre, two-hour long standoff that concerned workers and nearby business owners.

Officials closed off the street for several blocks for more than six hours on Monday and evacuated local businesses.

Investigators have identified him as 27-year-old Edgar Napoles Rodriguez.

A loud bang from the Sacramento Police bomb squad capped a day of chaos outside the Capitol.

As lawmakers worked inside the building, a suspect surrendered peacefully after two hours barricading himself inside a car blocking traffic. A picture shows the vehicle with messages written on the doors, and what appeared to be a tube running from the gas tank to the trunk. Among the messages, which were appeared to be written in paint or permanent marker: "Cops or Criminals," "Criminal Organization," and "Religion." Two smiley faces were drawn on the back bumper.

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"It was scary," said Paul Mitchell. "If it wasn't a car bomb, it was something that was made to look more threatening like it was some kind of a device."

He called 911 and alerted police to the unusual vehicle, and watched as the driver began blocking traffic and honking his horn.

"As cars would try to go past him, he would back up to try to block him or move forward to try and block him," he said.

Before his surrender, the suspect wouldn't talk to police from inside the car.

Images from a Facebook page believed to belong to Rodriguez-Napoles show his perspective from inside the vehicle.

More images show part of his negotiations with police as they tried to coax him out of the vehicle peacefully.

One of the photos showed a note written by one of the officers who tried to contact Napoles Rodriguez. The note reads: "I Ofc. Hughes #718 do swear to help Edgar Nopales (sic) in search of justice. Edgar will not be arrested for blocking the street. We will have Edgar talk to his kids."

When Sacramento Police called in the SWAT team, shut down streets and asked nearby businesses to evacuate, the California Highway Patrol chose not to evacuate. The officers in charge of protecting the Capitol only chose to close the L Street entrance to the building.

"I believe that they went with the determination that we just had a barricaded individual inside a vehicle," said CHP Officer George Granada.

Capitol staffers were left to search social media to stay up to date, many saying it was the only form of communication about the incident they'd received.

Jackie Koenig posted on Twitter, "Legislative staff haven't even been notified of the event."

Similarly, Samantha Corbin wrote, "Confirmed from capitol staff that they have gotten NO info whatsoever. Only info is coming from tweets and texts from friends."

Assemblyman Mike Gatto also took to Twitter, writing: "We get our info from #Twitter just like everyone else."

After a robot was sent to search the vehicle, police found a device they initially deemed to be suspicious but was determined to be a fake.

CBS 13's Macy Jenkins spoke to one of the suspect's neighbors, who said he wasn't surprised to hear about what happened. The neighbor said just last week he saw sheriff's deputies come to Napoles Rodriguez's door, where he heard yelling. There were a man and a woman involved and the woman apparently left with a packed bag with the deputies. The exact details of that situation are not known, but CBS13 did learn that Napoles Rodriguez's female roommate had apparently filed a restraining order against him.

Napoles Rodriguez was booked into the Sacramento County jail.