Man takes hostage at gunpoint

Police cars and an ambulance gather at this place in Afetnas where a hostage-taking incident happened yesterday afternoon. (KIMBERLY A. BAUTISTA)

In an attempt to avoid arrest, a man held a woman at gunpoint yesterday afternoon in Afetnas.

According to Department of Public Safety spokesperson Dre Pangelinan, the man was still holding the woman hostage as of 5:50pm yesterday and refused to surrender to authorities. Police said the victim is the man’s girlfriend.

The suspect reportedly walked from his residence in Afetnas to a relative’s house in San Antonio at around 3:50pm and barricaded himself and his hostage inside the home while over 50 local and federal officers stood watch.

Although Pangelinan did not disclose who the suspect of the hostage-taking was, social media posts said that the man is Gordon Aldan Castro, 31, who is notorious for taking hostages in the past in order to evade police.

Pangelinan said that police were executing an arrest warrant for Castro at his residence in Afetnas, but he shot a few rounds in the air to scare off police.

The warrant of arrest for Castro is for attempted first-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, use of a weapon in the furtherance of a crime of violence, and disturbing the peace.

At around 12:50pm, Pangelinan said Castro fired a few rounds of his gun to scare off police. Negotiators tried to talk down Castro and get him to surrender but failed.

Neighboring residents were immediately evacuated by police as precautionary measure.

One of Castro’s neighbors, Dagger Diaz, said that he heard what sounded like fireworks earlier in the day, around 12pm, so he paid it no mind until his husband told him police were surrounding their area.

“I wasn’t sure if it was a gunshot or fireworks. I was just told by my husband that there were cops and shots,” he said.

Diaz was not aware whether there were any individuals with Castro in his residence when police came to carry out the arrest warrant.

Diaz said their neighborhood is known for violent criminal activity because of the number of meth dealers in the area.

“There’s a lot of meth dealers here. I just want to let them know to get away from here, stop doing this. We need to help each other and love each other and this is not what we should be doing to one another on the islands,” he said.

According to Saipan Tribune archives, Castro held his family hostage for seven hours at his house in Afetnas in 2015.

Castro allegedly threatened his common-law-wife with a knife if police wouldn’t leave while confining her and their two children in the house.