Wanted man causes police standoff, school lockdown on Eighth Street

There were a few loud bangs, and then Richard Manuel Castaneda, 27, walked out of a house at 750 W. Eighth St. with his hands behind his head.
The Regional SWAT team from Gilroy and Morgan Hill had deployed gas munition after repeatedly asking Castaneda to leave the home.
Castaneda, 27, had $100,000 in felony warrants and was arrested for probation violation. He was wanted for battery and criminal threats, spousal assault and delaying a police investigation.
Hours earlier, two women and a young child had left the scene voluntarily, but Castaneda did not follow.
The police first arrived at the house at 11:43 a.m., according to Gilroy Police Sgt. Joseph Deras.
The incident happened a little more than a block away from Glenview Elementary School, prompting the GPD to issue a cautionary code blue alert that sent entire campus into lockdown mode.
“It’s basically a school lockdown,” said Deras, explaining what a code blue alert is. “But it’s not an immediate danger to the students.”
Students were dismissed in waves throughout the afternoon and exited from the other side of the campus at Ninth and Hanna streets.
The SWAT team set up camp at Trenton Place, just across from the house Castaneda refused to leave. At 2:52 p.m., five SWAT team members dressed in camouflage walked towards the house, holding a black barricade in front of their bodies. They stood behind the barricade and waited.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” said a neighbor who lives just two doors down from the house, and did not want to give her name.
Police told her to leave her house and take her two young children. She stood next to a stroller and waited for news.
The street closure prompted a handful of pedestrians to take a detour from their normal walking and driving routes.
“How am I supposed to get home?” asked one man in a white SUV as he tried to turn onto Eighth Street.
In front of the house, the SWAT Team continued to ask Castaneda to leave.
“This is the Gilroy Police Department. Come out right now,” they announced over a loud speaker, audible a block and a half away. “Come out the front door.”
At 4:40 p.m., Castaneda exited the house with his hands behind his head. He was quickly surrounded by six SWAT team members and arrested.