A Contra Costa County SWAT team has taken the man suspected of gunning down a woman he had been seeing during a broad daylight shooting at Walnut Creek’s Larkey Park into custody.
The suspect has been identified as Gregory Prokopowicz, 38. His victim was identified Friday by police as 47-year-old Roselyn Policarpio, who had addresses in Martinez and Stockton, according to police
The arrest came minutes after a police marksman fired at least one 40mm “sponge” round – a non-lethal projectile designed to stun – and gas grenades at the 38-year-old who has kept police at bay and a much of Martinez paralyzed since he sheltered in a car there Thursday night, after Prokopowicz left the car he was in to retrieve a bottle of water.
Prokopowicz refused orders to surrender, grabbed the water bottle and ran back to the Mercedes he has taken refuge in since the standoff began some 19 hours earlier – but not before he was hit in the rib cage by the non-lethal round.
Police said they were successful in getting him to throw his gun and a knife out of the vehicle, but that he armed himself with another knife and refused orders to leave the car. Three rounds of tear gas were discharged into the car, and Prokopowicz surrendered at 2:11 p.m.
We’ll have more as details emerge.
Gee, imagine someone with a neck tattoo doing something like this.
so true
So glad they caught him without further loss of life, and I believe the police behaved admirably in waiting this man out as they did. I also think he’s only one of many out there, all capable of this sort of thing and ticking time bombs waiting to go off.
Gee, imagine someone that’s a male doing something like this.
Gee, imagine a neck-tabooed-criminal who was let out of jail, doing something like this.
But the California Court System and political leaders seem to not care, rather just let everyone out of jail- or don’t send to jail in the first place, under some sort of compassion idea Where is the compassion for the victims, and us hard working, tax paying, law abiding citizens? Lock the d*mn criminals up!
I’m just glad he’s in custody where he belongs, and no further lives were lost. Everything else is irrelevant, except past criminal history. We do need to get tougher on crime.
I am against neck taboos, voodoo and boo boos. Back to the topic at hand this was a terrible terrible act and he should pay for it up to the day he hangs himself in prison. I think we need to come to terms with the fact that there are a lot od damaged people out there and that many of them are carrying or have access to guns – which is horrifying.
19 hours???? That dude must have had cast iron kidneys.
Interestingly, past criminal history often is irrelevant in criminal trials.
What about mental illness? Isn’t that relevant?