LAKEPORT >> Lizardo Elias Velasquez, 50, appeared with counsel Barry Melton at the Lake County Superior Courthouse in Lakeport this week for a Preliminary Hearing.
Judge Andrew Blum presided over the case, while defense counsel Melton requested and was granted a continuance in this matter.
Velasquez is charged with Threats To Commit Crime Resulting in Death, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Assault Likely to Cause Great Bodily Injury and Resisting an Officer.
The incident began on Friday, July 15 when two Lakeport Police officers and a sergeant were dispatched to a residence in the 1000 block of Martin Street to investigate the report of a man threatening to stab his 61 year old female cohabitant. According to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen, Velasquez refused to open the door and stated that if officers did not leave he would “Blow them up.”
The woman opened the back door for officers and informed them she was afraid Velasquez would use his knife. When an officer approached the defendant inside the house, police say Velasquez entered the kitchen and picked up the knife. He allegedly disregarded an order to drop the weapon and a warning not to step toward the officers with the knife in hand.
The officer, a police sergeant, was forced to deploy a Taser.
“During the transport to the jail, Velasquez told the Sergeant that if he had possessed a gun, he would have shot him and that he wanted to kill the police who arrived,” Rasmussen said.
Velasquez remains in custody and this matter is continued to August 22, 2016 at 8:15 a.m. for Preliminary Examination in Department 3. The Defendant is ordered to be present.
