HOSTAGE SITUATION ENDS SAFELY AFTER SUSPECT FIRED SHOT AT POLICE IN EL CAJON

By Miriam Raftery

December 25, 2015 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police negotiators have successfully ended a stand-off with a man who was holding a woman hostage and fired at police through the door.  10 News reports that after a breakup with his girlfriend, he brought flowers and a gun, pleading with his ex-girlfriend's mother to allow him to see his son. 

After negotiations lasting nearly three hours, the suspect surrendered to police. No one was injured during the incident.

Officers responded at 10:15 p.m. Christmas Eve to a report of a possible gun shot heard in an apartment complex in the 900 block of Estes Street in El Cajon. As officers arrived, they received another report of a disturbance in an apartment unit.

When officers knocked on the door and announced who they were, the suspect fired a gunshot through the door, toward the officers.

The officers reported gunshots and police units from multiple agencies responded to the scene, along with the El Cajon S.W.A.T. team. Officers later learned that the man was holding a woman hostage.

After nearly three hours of negotiations, the suspect agreed to release the hostage and moments later, he exited the residence.His motive is unknown, says Lt. Roy Bates.  The suspect, 45-year-old Edward Wilkinson, was booked into the San Diego Central Jail on multiple charges of first-degree attempted murder, assaulting a police officer with a firearm and false imprisonment with violence.

Anyone with information is asked to call El Cajon Police at 619-579-3311.