Armed Felon Thought to be Barricaded in Pasadena Restaurant Gives Police the Slip, is Captured Hours Later in Los Angeles

The armed man who sparked a four-hour-long police containment of a North Lake Avenue restaurant Monday morning only for police to find he had given them the slip when they burst into a locked bathroom was captured in Los Angeles that afternoon carrying a .45 caliber handgun, police said.

45-year-old Romualdo Cabrera of Los Angeles was taken into custody without incident about 12:30 p.m. by the the Pasadena Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit. He was was arrested on suspicion of being a felon with a gun, authorities said.

Cabrera, who was reportedly employed by and working as a busboy for The Reyn Restaurant at 635 N. Lake Avenue, is said to have pulled out a handgun in the presence of two restaurant employees Monday morning about 7:15 a.m. before the business opened to the public.

A caller to police said Cabrera had locked himself in a bathroom.

Co-workers said that Cabrera had been acting strangely prior to the incident.

Based on the totality of the circumstances, police believed the man may have been suffering from a mental health emergency, Lt. Mark Goodman said.

There were no members of the public in the restaurant at the time the incident began, Goodman said. The man was believed to be alone in the bathroom.

Police secured the area and shut down traffic on North Lake Avenue between Orange Grove Blvd. and Villa Street, according to witnesses.

Witness reports indicate police attempted to communicate with the suspect by a bullhorn, urging his surrender, and that the restaurant owner also spoke on the bullhorn.

One eyewitness said “We pass[ed] by and saw cops with their guns drawn as if they were waiting for someone. They were on opposite sides of The Reyn and across the street too, taking cover behind walls and waiting.”

Pasadena Police SWAT units responded with the armed Bearcat personnel carrier and after about four hours, shortly before noon, gained entry to the locked room to discover the suspect was not there.

A police spokesperson did not say how Cabrera was tracked to los Angeles, where he was arrested.