Police were locked in negotiations Tuesday night with a man holding hostages inside a building that houses a Chase bank branch and school district office in Bakersfield, California, officials said.
Officers responding to a bomb threat call arrived at the Chase bank building around 1 p.m. and found a man barricaded himself inside “with several community members,” the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.
Through a series of negotiations, two of the hostages were released and the remaining were reported in “good health,” city police Sgt. Eric Celedon said. “We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible,” he said.
The incident prompted evacuation of nearby buildings, including city hall and police headquarters, and temporary road closures, officials said. Officers established a perimeter around the bank and surrounding businesses.
Celedon urged the public to avoid the area; “This is still a very active situation.”
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said its branch is on the ground floor and is currently empty. The company is cooperating with authorities.
The department’s crisis negotiation team had phone contact with the suspect, while about a dozen police cars, a tactical vehicle, and multiple emergency responders were on site. FBI agents were also present.
Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was nearby at his family’s tattoo shop when he started receiving calls from subscribers about the bomb threat. He said, “I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town. Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents…along with a command center about a block away.”
By Tuesday night, Davidson’s livestreams showed a woman rocking back and forth before crouching further down below a window, and later, two hands waving. He noted that trauma tents—color‑coded to gauge injury severity—were in place “just in case” for emergencies.
Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh said she is closely monitoring the situation and advised the public to stay away from the area while law enforcement works to resolve the incident.
Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
}
