An armed man accused of terrorist threats on an Amtrak train will make his first court appearance Tuesday after a six-hour standoff with authorities in Chatsworth that caused an evacuation of the train as well as cancellations and service delays for other trains.
According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Information Bureau, the standoff ended when the suspect was taken into custody without incident. A handgun was recovered.
Darius Palmer, 46, of Oxnard was in the sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center in lieu of $125,000 bail Sunday, on suspicion of making terrorist threats and felony possession of a firearm. He is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday.
Nearly 200 people were on board the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 790, operating between San Luis Obispo to San Diego, said Amtrak spokesman Craig Schultz.
The gunman was initially spotted at 6:19 p.m. Friday by a passenger on the train who reported seeing the man and his weapon to the Metrolink Operations Traffic Center, which controls rail traffic through Chatsworth, according to Ramon Montenegro of the sheriff’s Transit Policing Division.
The train was evacuated and all Metrolink service through the Chatsworth station was halted
Schulz told City News Service all 187 passengers and five crew members aboard Train 790 “safely left the train…” with the exception of one man.
The suspect now identified as Palmer barricaded himself on the train right before 8 p.m. Friday and was finally taken into custody after 2 a.m. Saturday.
— City News Service