Standoff suspect held on $2M bail

Timothy Deschenes, 55, booked on attempted murder, illegal possession of firearm|

The man arrested after a four-plus hour standoff with law enforcement Saturday afternoon on Nicoli Lane was booked on charges of felony attempted murder, felon in possession of a firearm and felony negligent discharge of a firearm and is being held on $2 million bail.

Residents of the neighborhood near Sonoma Valley Hospital were asked to shelter in place Saturday afternoon as law enforcement officers negotiated with an armed suspect in a residence at 382 Nicoli Lane, police said.

Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said the incident began about 3:15 p.m. when the police received a call from an individual in Vallejo who claimed to be a friend of the suspect, Timothy P. Deschenes, 55, of Sonoma. The caller claimed that Deschenes had shot his wife “and law enforcement responded and (that) he shot at law enforcement,” Sackett said. “Of course we knew that wasn’t true.”

“We came out to check the welfare (of Deschenes) and on initial contact he recognized we were there, but was uncooperative,” Sackett said. He also said a neighbor thought he might have heard gunshots in the morning, which led police to be concerned for the wife. Eventually police determined through cellphone tracking that the suspect’s wife was in Marin County but, Sackett said, they couldn’t be sure no one else was with the suspect. Police said the suspect’s wife confirmed that Deschenes had shot at her earlier in the day.

“While on scene the deputies thought they’d heard him loading a weapon of some sort - a rifle it sounded like - while in a continual dialogue with him,” Sackett said. “We started negotiations with him remotely from Santa Rosa with a hostage negotiator, and during the course of that we started to make some progress. He was volatile.” Police said Deschenes “would frequently open the front door, yell at the deputies, and then close the door.”

Sackett said about 30 units responded, including the SWAT unit, police and sheriff, a fire truck and the sheriff’s helicopter.

Sackett said at one point Deschenes threw out a handgun, some loaded magazines and a cellphone. Eventually the police were able to convince him to surrender. He was taken into custody about 7:30 p.m. He’s scheduled to appear in court June 1.

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