Full Notification

Today we received a 911 call for a person who broke into a large house at the 2900 block of Santa Rosa Ave. in Altadena. The caller told us their house was broken into and had seen a person running out of their house. Altadena Station sent deputies with lights and siren to the house to investigate. After getting a brief description of who they were looking for and what happened, the deputies began searching the area. After a few minutes a deputy saw the suspect running from yard to yard. The area was surrounded with police cars and a helicopter was called in, however the helicopter was running low on fuel and a California Highway Patrol, and later a Pasadena Police Department helicopter filled in until the Sheriff's returned. 

Extra deputies were called in from Parks, and Transit Bureaus, and Temple and Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Stations along with a Sheriff's canine unit. The person who first called about the break in believed she may have seen a gun on the person in the past. Several 911 calls were received reporting a person was seen in the backyard of houses. 

The person whose house was broken into was re-interviewed and it was learned the person who broke the house had possibly been a visitor at the residence in the past. Also no items were stolen from the house, it was not immediately clear if and who may have invited this person into their house previously. After looking at the facts, it was determined the most likely crime that occurred tonight was misdemeanor trespassing and the containment of the area and helicopters were released.

In the beginning of this incident it was believed an armed felon was running loose, but in the end it appeared to be a lesser crime. The canine was not deployed into the neighborhood, as the canine is only used for very serious crimes. The deputies had to make split second decisions and called in various units to help, blocked streets and made loud announcements over speakers to try and get the suspect to give up and exit from where he was hiding. 

We thank the citizens of Altadena and people visiting for the holiday for any inconvenience we may have caused. We here at Altadena Sheriff's Station make great efforts to keep Altadena safe and catch the bad guys. We believe we may know who the person involved is, and our detective bureau is investigating. 

Thank you and have a happy holiday tonight.