By admin 
GLENDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — A wanted man barricaded himself inside a home in Glendale, prompting a large SWAT team response Wednesday evening.
Read more Autopsy reveals new details in Pinetop murder tied to California farming tycoon
Glendale Police Sgt. Justin Ramsay says around 5:45 p.m., officers with the department’s Violent Crime Impact Team were patrolling near 51st and Maryland avenues, south of Glendale Avenue.
Officers then noticed a man, identified as 36-year-old David Melendez, “acting suspicious.” At one point, officers saw Melendez nearly get hit by a car, according to Ramsay.
As two officers tried to approach Melendez, police say he immediately ran away. Officers began chasing him through a neighborhood and saw him jump over a front yard fence to his parent’s home. As he was running away, Melendez reportedly tossed a backpack that he was wearing.
Investigators say Melendez began banging on the front door of his parent’s house, screaming, “let me in.” Melendez barricaded himself inside the home and refused to come out, according to police.
Witnesses at the scene told Arizona’s Family they heard several bangs and glass breaking, and saw snipers on the roofs of homes in the area.
Police cleared nearby backyards and homes to make sure that neighbors were safe from the escalating situation. At one point, Melendez walked out of the home and used his parents as a “shield” from police, according to Ramsay.
Officers fired a pepper ball round and struck Melendez, who immediately went back inside and locked the front door. Officers also used a flash-bang.
Ramsay said officers sent drones into the house through two windows, but were unable to find Melendez.
“There were two members of the Glendale Police Department SWAT team already on scene, and they opted to call more members of the Glendale SWAT team to respond and help us get Mr. Melendez out of that home,” Ramsay explained.
Read more 3 men arrested for cutting down and burning Flock cameras, authorities say
Melendez’s parents eventually let SWAT officers inside, where they found Melendez wedged in a small closet behind a water heater. He was then arrested and booked into Maricopa County Jail.
“It was difficult to get him out, but we did remove Mr. Melendez from behind the water heater, secured him, took him into custody,” Ramsay said.
Melendez was not hurt from the pepper ball round.
Ramsay said Melendez has an extensive criminal history, including weapons, misconduct, burglary and a “multitude” of drug offenses.
“Mr. Melendez was also found to have five active and outstanding felony warrants from Maricopa County. It was also determined that he is actively on probation,” he said.
“With the violent history and the weapons charges Mr. Melendez does have on his record, we opted to take this safely and do everything we could to ensure the safety of our community and make sure that we operated in a manner that our community would respect and the service that they deserve,” he added.
Investigators reportedly found narcotics and drug paraphernalia in his backpack.
He was booked on two charges of obstruction. His felony warrants date back to 2023, according to police.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Read more Arizona State offering new three-year education degrees