RIPON - A 45-year-old Ripon man, who had allegedly been firing a weapon within the city limits and threatening a family member, fled to an insurance office in the 1400 block of West Main Street Friday morning where he was arrested and charged with making terrorist threats.

Anthony Marco Anda was transported to the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp where his bail has been set at $150,000.  He is scheduled to appear in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Tuesday, June 12.

Charges involving illegal firearms possession and the negligent discharge of a firearm within the city are being forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

A series of incidents involving Anda began three days earlier on Tuesday at about 5 p.m. when Ripon police units responded to a report of shots fired in the 900 block of Ruess Road where the Ripon man resides.  He was subsequently taken into custody for illegal firearms possession and for the negligent discharge of a weapon. 

Ripon First Sergeant Steve Merchant said five rifles and one handgun were discovered and secured by officers.  Shortly before 2 p.m. on Wednesday officers received another report that Anda was making threats with the use of a firearm.

At the request of police, a judge issued an emergency protective order but the suspect could not be located with the officer believing he could possibly be armed and a danger to a family member.

After repeated attempts to locate their suspect, officers responded to numerous 911 calls reporting shots being fired in the vicinity of the man’s residence on Ruess Road. 

Fire and ambulance units responded and were ordered to standby away from the home as officers made contact with him via telephone inside his house, asking him to come out but he refused and hung up the phone, Merchant said.

He somehow slipped out of his house and made an impromptu entrance at the Farmers Insurance Office in the 1400 block of West Main Street.  With officers still on Ruess Road the police dispatcher received a “frantic” call from an employee at the insurance business saying a man was in their office acting paranoid and talking about a gun.

When officers arrived on the scene, an employee ran out of the building and directed them to the individual who was taken into custody without incident, police said.  Anda was also found to have ammunition in his possession, but no weapon was located in or around the insurance office.