On Wednesday March 9 Chino Police and SWAT officers were in a standoff with a Chino man who refused to leave his home after eviction. The scenario occurred in the 11400 block of Santa Anita Avenue. The standoff resulted in a officer-suspect shootout and a house fire.

Early that morning, Chino Police officers, a county sheriff’s deputy, and a landlord arrived at the house where the unidentified man lived to serve an eviction notice. Suddenly, shots were fired at the men from within the home. “I heard a shooting – a lot of bullets,” said a neighbor.

The deputy was able to call for help, and backup officers as well as SWAT members soon arrived to handle situation. The man was barricaded inside the home, and officers used chemical agents in attempts to lure him out. The house caught fire soon after, but officers are reporting that the chemicals used were not strong enough to create a fire of that size.

It is highly believed that the suspect himself is the one who started the fire. “We did obtain information from an acquaintance of the resident who told us that he had told this acquaintance [on March 8] that he had planned to burn down the house and kill himself,” reports Capt. Wes Simmons of Chino PD. There was a search in the vicinity for the suspect, but it was soon called off because the suspect was most likely killed in the fire.

Police expect to recover the man’s body from the debris by the end of today.