A strategic decision by Long Beach Police Department Chief Flint Wright avoided what could have been a deadly encounter with an armed, intoxicated man.

The incident unfolded at 5:40 p.m. on June 23 at a residence on the 300 block of 18th Street in Long Beach.

Officers were dispatched after a 911 caller alleged Jerry L. Wright, 69, locked the caller, her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend out of the house. She said the man was inside armed with a firearm.

“Prior to meeting with [the caller], I spoke with her on the phone,” Office Miranda Estrada stated in court documents. “[She] advised me that [J. Wright] was heavily intoxicated and said something to the effect of ‘Worse than you guys have ever seen him.’”

The woman and the two others were instructed to leave the property and meet Estrada and Flint Wright at a nearby parking lot to discuss what was happening. The trio told officers they had left the home and returned to grab some of their belongings, which is when they found he was barricaded inside.

“[The daughter] was on the porch, knocking on the front door located on the west side of the house…,” Estrada stated in court documents. “[She] advised us that she told [J. wright] that they were trying to leave and just wanted to get their stuff so they could leave.”

“She goes on to say that ‘Where you’re standing on the porch, you can see into the living room and he’s sitting on the couch and there’s a silver gun and he goes like this…and pointed it at me through the window. And he was like ‘You’re never coming in here,’” Estrada added.

Silver pistol

The daughter provided additional information in her written statement.

“While me and Jerry were talking back and forth, we could see each other through the living room window and Jerry was sitting on the couch,” the woman wrote. “He then reached down to his side and pulled up a silver pistol and pointed it at me and yelled that I would never be able to enter the home again.”

According to court documents, Estrada asked the woman why they chose to stay on the property after she had a gun pointed at her, and she at first didn’t have an explanation.

“[She] continued to answer my question about why they stayed on the property by stating ‘Because I don’t think that he would do something like that,” Estrada stated in court documents. “I think that he’s being a drunk fucking idiot.’

“Chief Wright states that ‘Yea, but drunk people make stupid decisions.’”[She] goes on to say, ‘I don’t think he would never, ever, do you understand what I’m saying…Chief Wright states ‘I understand what you’re saying,” Estrada added.

“Chief Wright advised [the trio] that we were not going to make contact with Wright at this time since he was potentially armed with a firearm and under the influence of alcohol and that we would write up an assault charge against Wright,” Estrada stated in court documents.

Contact attempts

The police chief attempted to contact the man via cell phone multiple times, which were unsuccessful, and left a voicemail. Estrada tried to contact the man by phone at 9 a.m. the following day, June 24, but was also unsuccessful.

“I contacted Wright by phone at [1:11 p.m.] and he sounded intoxicated and would not respond to me,” Estrada stated in court documents. “After listening to him mumble quietly and only be able to make out something to the effect of ‘I just want a peaceful life’ and hear him unzip something, I disconnected our phone call. I contacted [F. Wright] and let him know about the contact.”

J. Wright was subsequently arrested for first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and made a preliminary appearance in the Pacific County Superior Court on June 30. Judge Donald J. Richter set his bail at $10,000 and ordered that he be placed on electronic home monitoring if he posts bail.

Richter also set the man’s arraignment for July 11. J. Wright posted bail on June 30.