Suspect in standoff charged, held on $1 million

Antelope Valley Press/July 12, 2003
By Nicole Jacob

LANCASTER - A 19-year-old attempted murder suspect who barricaded himself in a Lancaster house for nine hours Thursday is being held on $1 million bail, sheriff's officials said.

Michael Kelly, a reputed member of a local white supremacist gang, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder after his arrest. Formal charges will likely come early next week once a deputy district attorney is assigned to the case, a district attorney spokesman said.

Kelly is suspected of shooting a 31-year-old Lancaster man at Avenue K-10 and 35th Street West shortly before 9 a.m. July 2. The victim survived the attack and remains hospitalized, sheriff's officials said.

Kelly was scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. that day after being arrested May 23 on suspicion of grand theft auto, according to the sheriff's inmate locator Web site.

On Thursday, Lancaster gang enforcement deputies spotted Kelly at a house in the 42700 block of 45th Street West at about 12:30 p.m. while investigating the shooting. He barricaded himself inside the home and remained there until sheriff's officials from the Special Enforcement Bureau fired tear gas and flash grenades into the home nine hours later.