March 24, 2021 - The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) reports the following:

‘My neighbor just threatened to kill me with a shotgun’. That was all we needed to hear to set in motion the Sheriff’s Special Response Team (SRT). John Tau, 33, from Coulterville/Greeley Hill was that neighbor, he was last seen walking back towards his house armed with a sawed-off shotgun. Mr. Tau had been the subject of multiple calls over the last few weeks.

Due to the high-risk nature of the call and Mr. Tau’s history, the SRT team with the use of the Special Response Vehicle MRAP were activated. Once the team arrived on scene, they made several attempts to get Mr. Tau to come outside, he did not respond. Another resident inside the home came outside and informed the team that Mr. Tau was asleep in his bed. The SRT team made entry into the house and located Mr. Tau asleep in his bed with his hand on the loaded sawed-off shotgun next to him.

Mr. Tau was taken into custody without incident and is currently in the Mariposa County Adult Detention Facility on the following charges:

PC 33210- Possession of a short-barreled shotgun

PC 29800(a)(1) Felon in possession of a firearm

PC 30305(a)(1) Possession of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited

“This situation had the potential to be extremely dangerous. The Special Response Team did an outstanding job managing this incident, I’m happy the situation ended peacefully, and that Mr Tau can hopefully get the help he needs,” said Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese
Source: MCSO