RAMONA - A SWAT team used tear gas Monday to force the surrender of a man who holed up in an RV for about seven hours after allegedly attacking his girlfriend, pointing a pistol at her and threatening to kill her and her two young children.
About 10:30 Sunday night, authorities received a 911 call reporting a domestic assault in the 2600 block of Luelf Street in Ramona, sheriff's Detective Aaron Dabbs said.
Deputies met with the 38-year-old alleged victim at a neighbor's house, and she told them her boyfriend,42-year-old Lawrence "Steve" Monterastelli, had tried to strangle her before pulling a loaded 9 mm handgun and threatening her life and those of her 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter.
"Monterastelli also threatened to harm any law enforcement officers ... called to the scene," Dabbs alleged.
Following the alleged assault, the woman fled, leaving behind her children. A short time later, neighbors heard gunshots ringing out from inside the victim's home.
Deputies surrounded the residence, established communication with the children and directed them to come outside. The youngsters left the home, unharmed, and were taken into protective custody.
Sheriff's personnel, meanwhile, located the suspect inside a recreational vehicle parked on the property and tried in vain to persuade him to surrender.
Monterastelli, who was believed to be drunk, repeatedly refused to give himself up, and the stalemate continued through the early-morning hours.
Deputies eventually detonated concussion bombs, to no avail. They then fired tear gas into the vehicle about 6 a.m., and the acrid fumes forced the suspect to come outside, after which he was arrested.
Prior to the reported domestic assault, deputies had called to the victim's home to investigate noise complaints, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said. They arrived to find heavy drinking going on and left after asking the occupants to quiet down.
Monterastelli was booked into county jail on suspicion of felony spousal abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, negligent discharge of a firearm and child endangerment.
