SWAT standoff on Alturas Road ends with arrest

FALLBROOK – A 22-year-old man wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant holed up in a Fallbrook apartment in the 900 block of Alturas Road Monday afternoon (March 6), creating a standoff with law enforcement officers that lasted for nearly 2 1/2 hours before the man surrendered.

San Diego Fugitive Task Force officers were searching for Joshua Villegas, named in a felony arrest warrant for assault with a deadly weapon, when they spotted him as he arrived at an apartment complex on Alturas Road near Sancado Terrace shortly before 3:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Christopher Davis of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department

Villegas, who was believed to be armed, barricaded himself inside an apartment unit and ignored repeated orders to give up. Deputies from the Fallbrook Sheriff's substation cleared people out of surrounding rental units as a precaution and Special Enforcement Detail (SED/SWAT) was called.

The standoff ended shortly before 6 p.m. when Villegas exited the unit and was taken into custody. No civilians or officers were injured during the incident. Villegas was booked into Vista jail.