Rape suspect didn’t escape by changing clothes after all, cops say. He was in ceiling

UPDATE: The rape suspect police first thought had escaped a standoff in new clothing was actually still in the store’s ceiling, California authorities said.

After the previous day’s standoff, the Nordstrom Rack store remained closed on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and around 11:45 a.m., the man “lowered himself from the ceiling and fled through the back door of the business,” according to an updated Facebook post from the Pleasant Hill Police Department.

“He was quickly tackled by Nordstrom Rack loss prevention agents,” and “taken into custody,” Pleasant Hill police said.

The original story is below.

A “wanted rape and domestic violence suspect” escaped a standoff with police after fleeing to a mall and changing clothes at a Nordstrom Rack, California authorities said.

During a pursuit with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 27, the suspect drove a stolen car to the “north parking lot of the Sun Valley Shopping Center” in Pleasant Hill, the Pleasant Hill Police Department said in a Sept. 28 Facebook post.

The man, “known to be armed and dangerous,” exited the car and ran into a Nordstrom Rack with customers and employees inside, according to police.

The store and other nearby businesses were evacuated, police said.

After police called for the man, who was thought to be hiding inside the store, and got no response, they searched the inside of the store, police said.

“It was believed he had barricaded himself in the attic of the building,” police said.

Upon arrival, the Central County SWAT team also unsuccessfully tried “to communicate with the suspect,” according to police.

Despite searching the building with “drones, a K-9, a robot, and SWAT team members,” the suspect was not found, police said.

“It is believed he changed clothing and exited at some point in the initial moments of this incident, prior to the SWAT team arrival,” the post said.

The suspect has not been found, according to police.

Pleasant Hill is about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco.

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