Barricaded, Machete-Wielding Burglary Suspect Arrested In Berkeley
BERKELEY (CBS SF) - A burglary suspect armed with a machete and a saw was arrested Wednesday morning after a more than three-hour standoff in a Berkeley neighborhood, a police sergeant said.
Kamal Abdul Khalid, 65, was arrested after he allegedly broke into a house in the 1300 block of Parker Street and then barricaded himself in a nearby home after running from police, Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said.
Officers responded to the neighborhood after a man called police at about 7 a.m. to report that someone was burglarizing his home.
The man, who was home alone, was prepared to confront the intruder until he realized that the man was wielding a machete and a saw, she said.
The homeowner grabbed a baseball bat and chased the man away, Kusmiss said.
When officers arrived, they found the man and Khalid outside with the weapons in his hands, Kusmiss said.
Kusmiss said the officers ordered Khalid to stop, but he dashed alongside a home across the street from the house that had been burglarized.
Khalid ran up some stairs to a detached rear unit, where he used the machete and saw to break a glass panel in the door and dove through the small opening, Kusmiss said.
Officers spoke with the owner of the front property, who said the rear unit was unoccupied.
Negotiators from the Berkeley Police Department's Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team began working to convince Khalid to come out, while other officers cordoned off a four-block area for safety, Kusmiss said.
Half of the negotiations team was called in because Khalid had potentially lethal weapons, she said.
At about 10:20 a.m., Khalid offered to come out, Kusmiss said.
He exited the unit holding the machete, dropped it on the ground, and then put up some physical resistance before being taken into custody and arrested suspicion of burglary, she said.
Khalid, who is also known by the alias Charles Wade Jackson, was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for minor cuts that he suffered when diving through the door, Kusmiss said.
No one else was injured, she said.
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