ARMED SUSPECT BARRICADED IN ALPINE HOME, SHOTS FIRED

By Miriam Raftery

October 19, 2010 (Alpine) – A SWAT team has been called to a home at 19515 Japatul Road in Alpine, where an armed suspect has barricaded himself in his home after firing shots at his wife.

“He was holding his wife there and she was able to get out. She fled to a neighbor’s house and called us,” Lt. Marco Garmo with the San Diego Sheriff’s department told ECM. According to Garmo, the suspect, Michael Foster, 38, is a U.S. Army combat veteran who has been suffering flashbacks.

Foster was arrested about a week ago for causing a disturbance at Casino Inn Bar in Alpine, according to information his wife gave Sheriff’s deputies. Sheriff’s patrol deputies have set up a command post and are barricading off the neighborhood. A SWAT team has been requested, Garmo said.

The suspect is believed to be heavily armed with multiple weapons including a 22/250 rifle, 22 pistol, 22 rifle, and a shotgun.  There are reports that the house is also booby-trapped with trip wires.The 19000 block of Japatul Road is shut down in both directions;Dehesa and Tavern roads also are closed in the area.

Fred Maston recalled his encounter with Foster outside the Casino Inn recently. Maston said he had pulled up in his truck to pick up his girlfriend, a bartender. “All of a sudden my door came open and this guy hit me. I’d never seen the guy in my life,” he said. “When I hit him back he said, `You’re good; I’m going to slice you up.’ “ Foster went to his car and came back with a spatula, Maston recalled
 

According to Maston, Foster then started chasing a tall blond with tattoos in the parking lot. “While she was down, he tackled another guy…She sprayed him with some pepper spray,” he said. “Then his wife or girlfriend, not the one he was chasing, grabbed him.”
 

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Foster, Maston said. “The Sheriff’s offiers hog-tied him; they had to put a bag over his head because he was spitting at them.”
 

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