Police were in a standoff Thursday morning with a man who reportedly assaulted multiple people and then made his way onto a ledge on the 11th floor of a downtown Long Beach office building.
A bystander said the situation began when a man tried to rob DoLy’s Delectables, which is on the ground floor of a building at Broadway and Long Beach Boulevard. Preliminary reports from police indicated the man was suspected of assaulting at least two people.
Jason Cottrell was walking into DoLy’s for his morning coffee around 11 a.m. when he found the workers fleeing, their eyes stinging from pepper spray, he said.
The workers told police the man showed them a knife and demanded money, but one of the workers pepper-sprayed him, according to Cottrell.
The suspect made his way up into the building, where he could be seen holding onto a fire escape on the 11th floor.
Police called in extra officers to shut down the street and radioed for an airbag to try to break the man’s fall if he jumped or tipped over the edge.