El Monte Restaurant Standoff and Death
On December 23, 2008, police received a call about a suspicious man with a child. A police officer and witnesses noticed a man taking a boy off the sidewalk and then go into a restaurant in El Monte, California. Soon after that, a hostage standoff ensued and Benitez ignored the officers' orders to stop and barricaded himself inside the restaurant bathroom with his son. Benitez told police during negotiations that he was going to shoot police and harm his seven-year-old son whom he held hostage for two hours. One employee of a nearby Mexican restaurant said Benitez had the boy in a headlock and held a gun to his head as he sought a place to hold him.
Police closed nearby streets, and shoppers were evacuated from neighboring stores as dozens of police officers and other emergency crews surrounded the restaurant. Police threw a flash-bang grenade inside and exchanged gunfire with Benitez, killing him. Benitez was declared dead at the Chinese restaurant in an El Monte strip mall. His son was shot in the thigh but survived.
Benitez was later found to have a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver. Alina Elizabeth Velasco has not been located.
Read more about this topic: Manuel Benitez
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