SWAT arrests armed suspect after Stafford standoff ends peacefully

Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies and Tehama County SWAT took armed violent felony suspect Kenneth Pullen, 41, into custody after a Stafford standoff ended without further injuries. The confrontation centered on a home in the 400 block of North Road, where nearby residents were told to shelter in place as roads were closed around the scene.

Deputies responded after a report that Pullen was barricaded inside the residence. The call began around 12:30 p.m. as a domestic violence incident involving a firearm, with a caller alleging that a woman was threatened with a handgun while she was moving out of the home. That allegation set off a response that quickly shifted the block into a temporary emergency zone.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office issued an emergency advisory while deputies worked to contain the situation. Residents were told to stay away from the area, and officers blocked nearby roads as negotiators spent several hours trying to end the barricade without more violence. The shelter-in-place order remained in effect while law enforcement tried to secure the house and protect people in the surrounding neighborhood.

The standoff ended Sunday afternoon when the Tehama County SWAT team brought Pullen into custody. After he surrendered, law enforcement reopened North Road, clearing the immediate danger for the Stafford neighborhood and ending a tense afternoon that had kept neighbors watching from behind closed doors.

The home itself has been the focus of law enforcement before. The same residence was the subject of a Humboldt County Drug Task Force search in 2021, adding another layer of concern for residents who have now seen the address tied to more than one major police operation. County jail booking and release documents are posted daily on the Humboldt County jail reports page for the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, providing the public with a record of custody status after arrests like this one.