A man who had barricaded himself on the top of the California Bank and Trust building was taken into custody Sunday afternoon after keeping authorities at bay for several hours.  At around 7:07 a.m., a bystander called 9-1-1 about a man who was walking on the roof of the bank, located at 102 Yale Ave. in the Claremont Village. Claremont Police Department officers responded and located a male in his mid-40s walking around on the second roof above the main roof of the bank building, approximately 25 feet above the ground.

The man was extremely agitated and stated that he wanted to kill himself by jumping off of the roof. He refused to comply with the officers’ requests to come down, according to the Claremont police. The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded and assisted officers by deploying multiple ladders to access the roofs.

During the standoff, police had closed the westbound lane of First Street between Yale and Harvard Avenues, as well as the public parking area directly behind the bank. A small crowd of curious onlookers, many of whom carried groceries from the weekly Claremont Farmers’ Market, stopped to watch.

Crisis negotiators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spent several hours trying to talk the man off of the roof. He ultimately ran from officers and jumped down to the main roof where he was then taken into custody without incident. Neither the subject nor any officers were injured.

He was transported to a local hospital for a mental evaluation.