Charges have been filed against a suspect who barricaded himself inside of a Starbucks restroom after threatening a man while armed with a knife.
On February 16, 2022, at around 3:10 PM, Burbank Police Officers responded to Ralphs Supermarket, located at 1100 N.San Fernando Blvd., regarding a subject threatening customers. The individual also reportedly threatened to kill a store employee while armed with a knife.
The first police officer to arrive was alerted by witnesses, who identified the suspect walking away from Ralphs. The officer gave the suspect several orders to stop but was ignored. While waiting for additional police officers to arrive, the officer continued to follow the suspect as he walked towards Starbucks, located at 1001 N. San Fernando Blvd., #120. As additional officers arrived on-scene, they tried to detain the suspect, but he had walked into a restroom inside of Starbucks.
Based on the information that the suspect was armed with a knife, customers and employees inside of Starbucks were escorted outside to a safe location. In addition, people inside of adjacent businesses were also escorted to a safe location as police officers established a containment.
Additional resources and emergency personnel were deployed to the scene, which included trained Crisis Negotiators and members of Burbank Police SWAT. Negotiators established communication with the suspect inside of Starbucks. After approximately 90 minutes, the suspect voluntarily exited the restroom and was taken into custody. He was in possession of a fixed-blade knife at the time of his arrest.
The suspect has since been identified as Paul Brennen Gibbs, a 26-year-old resident of Chandler, Arizona. Gibbs was booked on suspicion of criminal threats. On February 18, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed one count of criminal threats, and one count of resisting, delaying, or obstructing a police officer against Gibbs.
