Caught on the Inside - A Look at the Fourth of July Hostage Standoff

By Teresa Rochester and Jorge Casuso

For nearly four hours, Fausto Morales and Gabriel Santiago had no idea of the terror that was unfolding outside the locked door.

It wasn't until the 5 a.m. news came on the old television set in the back room of the Playland Arcade that the two employees realized what was happening. The man who had been pounding on the locked door throughout the early morning hours of July 4 had been holding 15 hostages at gunpoint just beyond the wall.

The man they had spotted through the peephole was the same burly tattooed man who had walked into the arcade bustling with 200 to 300 people 20 minutes before the 2 a.m. closing time. One of the workers asked him to put out his cigarette and he obliged, stepping outside, then reentering through the doors, which were about to be closed under police orders.

Santiago was standing in the middle of the arcade -- which was thundering with the shots and beeps of video games -- when he saw police officers gathering at the front and back entrances.

"They left one door open in the back to let people out," said Santiago, who was finishing his first week on the job. "Police were ushering people out."

That's when Santiago spotted the burly man, who seemed nervous as he fidgeted with three cigarettes.

"One of my co-workers said, 'Don't smoke,'" Santiago said. "He continued. He was walking out the back and saw police. He got very nervous."

Santiago saw the man suddenly grab a young woman at the back of the line of people waiting to exit out the rear door. His arm around her neck, he used the woman as a shield and started firing as the deafening video games fell silent.

"I thought, 'This guy's crazy,'" Santiago said. "Everyone squatted down. I didn't. I was caught by surprise. I froze for three or four seconds. When he turned he saw me.

"When I heard more shots," Santiago said, "I thought they were meant for me and I hit the ground."

Near the front of the arcade, one of the night managers, Miguel Lopez, threw himself next to a little girl who was hiding under the rifle machine.

"After three minutes the front door opened and we went out," Lopez said. "You get scared. You don't know where the shots are coming from."

When the shooting stopped, three officers and three civilians were wounded. One of the civilians, a 17-year old male who matched the description of the gunman, ran from the arcade and was caught in the crossfire.
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Marlene Gordon had settled in for the evening when her phone began to ring shortly before 2 a.m. On the other end was a panicked employee describing the chaos unfolding in the arcade Gordon's father had opened 50 years ago.

Using another phone, Gordon dialed the Santa Monica Police and told them about the three men holed up in the back room of the arcade. One of the men climbed up to the roof, while Morales and Santiago stayed behind.

"I told them [the police] to get a ladder to get my guy off the roof," said Gordon, who rushed to the scene, bringing with her the floor plans of the arcade. "The other two guys stayed because they resembled the shooter."

"We couldn't go out because there were sharpshooters and we were afraid we could get shot," Santiago said.

On the main floor of the arcade, those unable to escape followed the gunman's orders, pushing air hockey tables and video games into a circle. The 15 hostages were then forced to lay face down on the concrete floor.

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The story unfolding early Tuesday morning had started when the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department alerted Santa Monica Police that a man wanted for three gang slayings - in Victorville, Ontario and Baldwin Park - was on the pier.

The sheriff's officers traced the suspect, Joseph Flores, 30, of Baldwin Park, after obtaining his pager number and giving him a call. He called them back from the pier.

Santa Monica police arrested Flores after a brief scuffle, but soon learned that an alleged accomplice in the three killings, Oswaldo Amezcua, 25, of Baldwin Park, also was on the pier.

It was Amezcua who would nonchalantly enter the pier arcade minutes after Flores was arrested.

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From her South Beach apartment, Ellen Brennan thought the loud pops coming from the pier were firecrackers. But then she heard the sirens.

"I grabbed my binoculars and looked out the window," said Brennan, president of the South Beach Neighborhood Association. "I went up to the roof and saw the lifeguard ambulance come out of the garage on Ocean Front Walk."

Brennan watched as an ambulance pulled to the south side of the arcade to load a gurney with one of the six people injured in the shootout. Through her binoculars Brennan could see police, with guns drawn, move slowly through the pier parking lot that abuts the arcade looking for more victims or the suspect.

On the pier, Santa Monica police were joined by police officers from Culver City, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Manhatten Beach, Hawthorne and El Segundo. A negotiating team joined the police agencies, as a helicopter fluttered overhead.

Inside, Amezcua spoke with a negotiator, building a rapport with her and agreeing to let some of the hostages go. One hostage, a Playland Arcade employee, managed to slip out of the circle, sliding under an air hockey table and out a window when Amezcua's back was turned.

During the standoff Amezcua let some hostages use a cell phone to call their families to let them know they were okay. Police had shut down the arcade's telephones.

By 5 a.m. nine of the 15 hostages were released. By 6:40 a.m. only two hostages remained with Amezcua, who surrendered peacefully by crawling out of a front window of the arcade.

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On Wednesday Gordon stood outside the back of the arcade once again reliving for one more reporter the early morning hours of the Fourth of July. With cameras rolling, the reporter leaned in with his final question - "Marlene, what were you feeling?"

Gordon glanced around and then looked at the reporter, pausing before she spoke.

"It's a terrible feeling when you know your place is under siege and he's maybe shooting people, people that you've known for years," said Gordon. "You don't know who you're going to see tomorrow."