Image courtesy of www.9news.com.au
Source: www.9news.com.au
Singer Chris Brown has been arrested in Los Angeles after a lengthy standoff with police, following claims he pointed a gun at a woman.
He has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The LA Police Department said officers from the homicide and robbery division - which deals with celebrity cases - headed to Brown's home after a woman called for help at 3.11am Tuesday local time.
Brown briefly emerged from his home this morning, wearing a white t-shirt and red hat, 12 hours after the initial call to police. He returned inside shortly afterwards.
The woman, believed to be locally known beauty queen Baylee Curran, had reportedly just been in Brown’s hot tub when she went inside and admired a piece of jewellery.
Speaking with Melbourne’s KIIS 101.1 this morning, Ms Curran said she was not at Brown’s to party last night, but instead for a “business meeting”.
“It was really not a party, no it was indeed not a party. It was Chris himself, and then a couple of his buddies there. Mainly it was a business meeting, a go-see for music videos,” she said.
“So I came in from the backyard and there was a man showcasing the jewellery and that’s when I was admiring one piece, it was a diamond cross necklace.
“That’s when Chris’s friend, or I don’t know who he was to Chris, noticed that I was looking at it, and warned me to step away, ‘don’t touch the diamonds, get the f--- outside’.
“That’s when Chris pulled a gun and said, ‘get the f--- out. Like, I’ve had enough of you girls, haven’t I told you girls enough’.”
Ms Curran said she then called police. She said she is “not sure” whether she will personally lay charges against Brown, who she claims she hadn’t met before this altercation.
A member of Brown’s entourage was also escorted out of the Tarzana home earlier today and told reporters the allegations against Brown were false.
“He wants to know why everyone’s attacking him for nothing,” he said.
The lawyer for the 27-year-old singer arrived at his Californian mansion about four hours ago.
Police said since his lawyer arrived, they had made progress with Brown, who was initially refusing to leave his home.
“Homicide division is currently serving a search warrant at Mr Brown’s location, right now we are getting cooperation from everyone involved,” LAPD Lt. Chris Ramirex said.
Earlier today, Brown posted videos on Instagram in which he criticised the waiting officers and sought to ally himself with the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality.
"You've all got to stop playing with me like I'm the villain here, like I'm going crazy. I'm not," Brown said in one video.
"When you get the warrant for whatever you need to do, you're going walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing, you idiots."
"You're all the worst gang in the world, the police."
Entertainment gossip website TMZ has reported that Brown threw a duffel bag to the police.
The R&B singer, who topped the US singles chart with 'Run It!' and 'Kiss Kiss', has had years of run-ins with the law.
Most notoriously, he was convicted of beating his then-girlfriend Rihanna before the 2009 Grammy Awards, forcing the pop singer to miss the music industry's annual gala.
In 2014, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a man outside a Washington hotel and earlier this year was accused of battery by a woman in Las Vegas.
Last year, he was accused fraud in the Philippines for failing to perform a concert, which also led the singer to voice his anger on Instagram while he waited to leave the country.
