ARREST ENDS 8-HOUR STANDOFF POLICE SAY AX-WIELDER HAD HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - An ax-wielding former mental patient arrested after an eight-hour standoff with sheriff's deputies at a rural Palmdale home has a history of narcotics use and violent behavior, officials said Wednesday.

Thomas Gidion, 42, had reportedly been driving erratically and threatened motorists and law enforcement officers with a double-bladed ax before retreating into his landlord's house on the walled property where he lives in a rented motor home.

``We've had dealings with him in the past,'' said Sgt. Vince Burton of the Palmdale sheriff's station.

Gidion spent three days in the Antelope Valley Hospital psychiatric ward earlier this month after threatening people with a machete, deputies said.

``He was taken for a 72-hour hold for a mental evaluation but the only way they can hold him longer is if the doctors determine that he's a threat to himself or others,'' Detective Steve Saylor said Wednesday. ``Apparently they determined that he was not at that time.''

Gidion was also arrested by Palmdale deputies on May 22 for being under the influence of a controlled substance, sheriff's records show. He was released the following day.

The standoff ended early Wednesday when special-weapons deputies sent tear gas into the house, then went in after Gidion. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail at the Lancaster sheriff's station's jail.

The incident began Tuesday afternoon near 30th Street West and Avenue N as a motorist was driving erratically, officials said. Other motorists called 911 and at least one couple followed the car, staying on the line with the 911 operator.

When the motorist - later identified as Gidion - realized another vehicle was following him, he pulled his car over, got out with the ax in hand and began yelling threats and swinging the ax toward their car, deputies said. Fearing for their lives, the couple sped off.

Gidion threatened at least two other people and struck one vehicle with the ax before speeding off in his car, deputies said.

A California Highway Patrol officer caught up with Gidion's car, as did two sheriff's deputies who were flagged down by other motorists. They followed Gidion to a home in the 1100 block of West Avenue O, where he stood in the yard swinging the ax.

Gidion then went inside the house, locked himself in and refused to talk to deputies before he was pulled from the home just after midnight, officials said.

Greg Botonis, [phone]

gregory.botonis(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

A sheriff's deputy arms himself with a shotgun Tuesday during a standoff with a man barricaded inside a Palmdale home.

Paul Weatherman/Special to the Daily News