According to Megan Zabel of the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), at approximately 8:52AM, the victim called the LBPD again, reporting that the alleged suspect was back in the area of Willow and Lakewood.
Officers were able to locate the suspect, and he is currently being detained for further investigation.
12:02PM | Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officers barricaded a brush area near Willow Street and Lakewood Boulevard early this morning following an altercation between two homeless men.
Officers arrived on the scene at about 12:11AM following a call about a homeless man who had been threatened by another homeless man, who said that he had a gun and was going to shoot the first man and “burn his house down,” said LBPD spokeswoman Megan Zabel.
The victim told officers that he did not actually see the suspect with a gun, only that the suspect claimed he had one. The two homeless men knew each other and had a personal disagreement, Zabel said.
As a precaution, CHP shut down both sides of the San Diego Freeway from 12:49AM until 1:45AM, and police surrounded a brush area just off the San Diego (405) Freeway at Willow and Lakewood, where they believed the suspect to be, Zabel said.
Officers, with the assistance of the FOX helicopter, searched the area for the suspect for about two hours but could not locate him.
A terrorist threat report was taken, Zabel said, and police cleared the area at about 2:11AM.
No other information is available at this time, and the investigation is ongoing. We will update this story as we learn more.