California man arrested after firing on ice cream truck, police

[September 15, 2014]  (Reuters) - A southern California man was arrested following a nine-hour standoff with police after he opened fire on an ice cream truck and later shot at officers, police said on Monday.

Terry McKinney, 59, was arrested late on Sunday following the hours-long standoff, said San Bernardino Police Lieutenant Rich Lawhead. No one was injured, he said.

Around 3 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday, police responded to reports that a man had shot an ice cream truck and another car. When officers arrived, McKinney retreated into his home and refused to comply with police instructions, Lawhead said.

During the tense situation, police used an armored vehicle to deliver a phone to McKinney to open a dialogue and McKinney fired multiple shots at the vehicle, Lawhead said.
 

Police responded by shooting roughly two dozen canisters of tear gas and other chemicals into the home, one of which caused a fire to break out inside the house, Lawhead said.

McKinney tried to escape out a back window and was caught by a police dog, Lawhead said.

Local media reported that as many as 10 children had surrounded the ice cream truck when McKinney initially opened fire, but Lawhead could not confirm those reports.

It was not immediately clear why McKinney had opened fire on the ice cream truck. A local newspaper, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, said police had "interacted" with him in the past.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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