Hours-long standoff with teen ends peacefully at Turlock-area center for troubled youth
For three and a half hours Friday, Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies were in a standoff with a 17-year-old boy at a residential facility for youth with behavioral issues south of Turlock.
The incident started around 12:30 p.m. at Aspiranet’s Excell Center on Youngstown Road. Lt. Tom Letras said the teen barricaded himself inside one of the residential areas and began vandalizing it.
The center is on an 11-acre campus that includes a small school, which is closed for winter break, said Jeff Rosenplot, marketing and communications director for Aspiranet.
“The school is not part of what went on, the school was not in session, so no students were on campus during the incident,” he said.
He said the residential program is an on-site short-term program for behavioral treatment that provides a pathway back into the community.
Deputies originally responded to the campus for a security check on the teen and advised the counselors who were with him to evacuate, Letras said.
During the standoff, the teen live-streamed on social media, making comments that he “wasn’t going to be taken alive,” Letras said. He also broke items within the residential facilities throughout the standoff.
Deputies with the Sheriff Department’s Hostage Negotiation Team eventually were able to talk with the teen by phone and convince him to surrender. He walked out of the residence and was taken into custody without incident.
Letras said the youth was booked into Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of felony vandalism. No one was injured during the incident.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 5:57 PM.
