A woman was found dead and a police dog was stabbed during an hours-long police standoff at a hotel in Del Cerro on Friday, according to San Diego police.
The incident began after a man allegedly threatened hotel staff with a knife around 11:30 a.m. at a Days Inn on Adobe Falls Road, just north of Interstate 8, according to Lt. Adam Sharki. The staff had been trying to evict the man when he reportedly became violent.
When police arrived, the man threatened to shoot officers, Sharki said. Police began negotiating with the man to come out peacefully but were unsuccessful.
SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were brought to the scene.
NBC 7 reported that the man could be seen in the window of the hotel room. At some point, a police robot went to deliver the man a cigarette, and the man picked up the robot and threw it over a railing.
At around 6 p.m., officers attempted to use tear gas to bring the man out, Sharki said. When that was unsuccessful, they sent a police dog, named Hondo, into the hotel room.
The man stabbed the dog multiple times, according to Sharki, but the dog was wearing a protective vest and was only wounded once.
Once the man was partially outside of the room, SWAT officers moved in, wrestled the knife out of the man’s hand and detained him. One officer suffered minor injuries during the confrontation.
While searching the room, officers found a woman’s body inside, Sharki said. No further information about the woman’s identity or how she died was available Friday.
The police dog was taken to a veterinarian and is expected to survive, Sharki said.
This is the second time Hondo has been stabbed during a police standoff.
The dog was stabbed at least twice in the chest during a December 2021 standoff before officers were able to take the suspect into custody. Hondo returned to duty a few weeks later, police said.
Homicide detectives are investigating the incident.
