Gunman causes long traffic jam

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A man in a ski mask waved an American flag and a handgun on a freeway overpass for about three hours Monday morning, forcing a massive traffic shutdown before he surrendered.

Police said crisis negotiators coaxed Edward Van Tassel, 28, to give up west of downtown Santa Barbara on Highway 101, a major route along the California coast. Traffic was jammed at least three miles in each direction.

After dropping his weapon, Van Tassel asked for a Barack Obama campaign sign, which authorities delivered to him using a bomb squad robot, police said. The man attached the sign and the flag to the overpass and later walked backward to officers, who took him into custody. No shots were fired, and police said the man’s gun turned out to be unloaded.

Van Tassel, an Iraq veteran from Santa Barbara, was taken into custody without incident, said police Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte. The sergeant said Van Tassel had been in the Army but he did not have any details of his Iraq service.

Duarte said Van Tassel was complaining about the treatment of veterans and the war. “The reason appears to be anti-war, but I don’t know the specifics,” he said.