ATWATER - Early Friday afternoon officers from the Atwater Police Department responded to the area of Ralston Park, on Third Street near Elm Avenue, to a report of a male who had just brandished a handgun at the reporting party.

Officers located the reporting party and his girlfriend who told them that a Hispanic male had just pointed a semiautomatic pistol at them at Ralston Park, threatened to shoot the female and then fled the area on foot. As other officers began searching the area, they called out over the police radio that he had located the subject running through an alley near Drakeley Avenue and Third Street and that the subject was carrying a handgun.

Officers gave chase on foot at that point and continued to update other officers of the subject’s location. Police located the male running south on Fifth Street with the firearm in his hand. The male continued to flee from officers and held the gun to his head several times before stopping in the 1600 block of Drakeley Street.

The male held the gun to his head again as officers shouted commands at him to drop it. The male eventually complied with their commands and dropped the firearm before being taken into custody. He was identified as 19-year-old Julio Cisneros-Leon.

The firearm was found to be loaded with a round in the chamber. Cisneros-Leon was later booked into Merced County Jail on charges of Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Criminal Threats, Delaying/Obstructing a Peace Officer, Carrying a Loaded Firearm in Public and Possession of a Firearm with no Serial Number.