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Suspect livestreams standoff with police

By Rachel Foor 4 min read

A city man took to Facebook Live on Thursday during an hourslong standoff with police. Al Mu Min Yusef Diaz, 45, eventually surrendered Thursday afternoon, but not before more than 300 people logged into Facebook to watch him talk about the police presence outside his home. During the livestream, Diaz also asked police to let him alone, said he was scared and denied being involved in a domestic incident.

A hostage negotiator was able to convince Diaz to surrender peacefully, police said.

According to online court documents, Diaz is facing a felony charge of possession of a firearm prohibited, misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats and simple assault and a summary charge of harassment, all related to an incident that occurred Wednesday.

Sergeant Patrick Tomassetti, press officer for the Altoona Police Department, said those charges stem from a domestic incident. A female caller told officers that she was the ex-wife of Diaz, but that they still lived together at the residence, Tomassetti said.

"During this altercation, (Diaz) produced a handgun and threatened her life," Tomassetti said, adding that Diaz is not legally allowed to possess a firearm.

Based on that information, police acquired an arrest warrant for Diaz and a search warrant for the residence, Tomassetti said.

About 11 a.m. Thursday, state troopers and Altoona police arrived at the home on the 900 block of First Avenue and created a perimeter around the residence to conduct surveillance until the Altoona Police Tactical Response Team arrived on scene about 12:30 p.m., Tomassetti said.

Tomassetti said Diaz was the only person inside the residence when the perimeter was established and that the Tactical Response Team "tried for four or five hours to coax him out" but he refused.

Tomassetti said police were aware Diaz was on a Facebook livestream and they watched "so they could monitor his movements and what he was doing."

Diaz surrendered to police and was taken into custody without incident about 4:45 p.m. after officers were able to get phone contact with him, Tomassetti said.

According to a post on the APD Facebook page, Lt. Ashley Day, a hostage negotiation specialist with the APD's Criminal Investigations Division, was able to convince Diaz to give himself up peacefully.

The post also states that officers found multiple firearms inside the residence once the initial search warrant was executed.

"An additional search warrant was acquired for counterfeit money and drugs that was also located in the residence," the post read. "Diaz will receive additional charges in relation to the items recovered during the search warrants."

Diaz has a separate case against him in the court of common pleas of Blair County. In that case, he is charged with one felony count of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person as well as nine summary traffic offenses. He was free on $20,000 monetary bond.

When asked why officers decided to wait hours for Diaz to surrender rather than entering the residence themselves, Tomassetti said that they didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"We were taking the utmost caution," Tomassetti said. "We feared he had a firearm and we didn't want anyone to get hurt. There were a lot of residents in the area. We could wait; we had time on our side."

While police used caution, residents living near the perimeter weren't fearful. Rather than stay inside their homes, people set up lawn chairs and umbrellas in alleys and driveways to watch the events unfold. Some even brought out cold beverages and popcorn.

Two groups of teenagers making their way home from school said they couldn't figure out how to get to their homes due to the barricades.

The area was cleared by police about 5 p.m.

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