The sounds of a helicopter and booming loudspeaker woke up many South Redondo Beach residents early Wednesday morning as police searched for a possible burglar on the Esplanade.
The Daily Breeze reported that a security guard reported spotting a possible burglar at an apartment complex undergoing renovations in the 600 block of the Esplanade.
Construction workers at the scene said the security guard told them that the person was climbing around the scaffolding at the 105-unit building "like Spiderman."
According to Patch readers, the helicopter first arrived at about 12:30 a.m., stayed for awhile and left before coming back at about 2:30 a.m.
"We woke to the … helicopter circling around outside our bedroom window, announcing over a loudspeaker for the suspect to come out of the building and that the building was surrounded," reader Karen Schermerhorn told Patch. "This went on for (five) minutes or more with continuing announcements."
Alison Clay-Duboff offered a similar account.
"It was so loud, so incredible," she said. "They kept shouting, 'We're sending in the dogs—the building is surrounded!'
"It was like the apocalypse."
Redondo Beach Police Department Sgt. Shawn Freeman told the Breeze in a later article that the loudspeaker was used because officers were using a police dog to search.
"It's not our intent to wake up all the neighbors on The Esplanade," Freeman told the Breeze. "If someone is in this complex stealing who-knows-what, it's our job to go in and arrest him. And we have to do it safely."
More than a dozen police units responded to the scene, according to Patch readers.
No arrest was made.
