Slab City, the alternative lifestyle and boondocking site near Niland, California, got pretty exciting last weekend. Law enforcement got some agitated 9-1-1 calls from Slabbers complaining of shots fired at Slab City. In the end, a man and a woman were arrested on multiple weapons charges, and a U.S. Navy explosives team had to be called in to remove ordnance found in their RV.
Shots fired at Slab City
It started on Sunday afternoon around 4:30 when dispatchers received calls. One caller reported hearing gunshots; another said they saw two people shooting at others in the area. On scene, sheriff’s deputies found Latoya Shantell Roger, 45, holed up in an RV. Despite repeated commands to come out, Roger refused, and it took an hour of negotiations to get her out. She told deputies that the other suspect, Darnell Maurice Mercer, 35, wasn’t inside.
Checking up on the story, deputies entered the trailer, and indeed, did not find Mercer. Instead they found a cache of guns, ammo and other ordnance. Further searching for Mercer finally revealed him, hiding in a makeshift septic tank. No word on what else might have been in the septic tank, but Mercer was taken into custody.
$25,000 bail on multiple charges
Both Mercer and Roger were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a firearm, resisting arrest, negligent discharge of a firearm, and attempting escape after arrest. Bail was set at $25,000 for each. U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel came to the scene and assisted in removing and taking custody of military ordnance found in the trailer.
It’s not the first time law enforcement has had a run-in with the pair. Both lit out in a car after law enforcement attempted to talk with them on October 1. Police later found the car abandoned. Inside was a .22-caliber revolver, several cell phones, several high-capacity magazines, live ammunition, brass from bullets, and suspected methamphetamine.
##RVT1128b
Their mug shots show them to be fine upstanding citizens in the community. Lol
I was just thinking that same thing, Bob. If these two are indicative of the rest of the residents, the Slab won’t be showing up on my list of places to visit anytime soon,
sounds like a garden spot that I just have to visit…will this pair be offering tours?
Alternative lifestyle – so that’s this week’s word change for lowlife criminal.
Yup!!
“Multiple run-ins with the law”
“Military ordinance”
“Plus the shooting”
My only takeaway is that $25,000.00 bail was set or a mere $2,500 bond and then home by noon to turn over that new leaf and begin a positive contribution to society.
And they wonder how we got here.
I can’t help but think about the article I just finished about the old penitentiary in Pittsburgh and the “social injustice” it supposedly represents. In the immortal words of Col. Sherman Potter: “Horse Hockey!”
Well, they are quite the pair. Wow!
So much about the much touted effectiveness of gun control laws. Have to wonder how this could even happen in a state with possibly the most restrictive gun laws.