Police beat: Threats, guns and weird noises

At about 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call from a woman in the 100 block of Fremont Drive, who said that a man on the property was threatening to kill her. When they arrived, deputies used loudspeakers to order everyone out of the buildings. “There are multiple buildings on a fairly large property, so this was the safest way to get people out,” said Misti Wood, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.

One of the men who came out in response to the loudspeaker announcement was Andrew Hirshfield, 33, of Schellville, whom the caller identified as the man who had threatened her. She said he had threatened her “repeatedly in the past but she had not called the Sheriff’s Office in those earlier instances,” said Wood, including issuing threats to shoot her.

With his permission, deputies entered his trailer and located two rifles, a billy club, a baton and three handgun magazines with ammunition. The items were removed for safekeeping and evidence. Hirshfield was arrested and booked on felony charges of criminal threat and possession of a baton. He was released the next day on $30,000 bail.

On Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 21, multiple drivers reported seeing several sheriff’s cars on Highway 12 in the Agua Caliente area with “guns drawn” as if looking for something. A check with the county Sheriff’s Office found only that a caller said he was hearing “weird noises at Larson Park,” but deputies could not see or hear anything suspicious, and could not reach the reporting party.