Last week, on September 8th, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department successfully used a remote-controlled bomb squad robot to snatch a rifle out from under an armed and violent suspect. The standoff between the suspect and an armored SWAT team lasted for more than six hours, but concluded without a single shot fired. "The robot was a game changer here," Capt. Jack Ewell told the LA Times. "We didn't have to risk a deputy's life to disarm a very violent man."

An hours-long standoff in the darkness of the high desert came to a novel end when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used a robot to stealthily snatch a rifle from an attempted murder suspect, authorities said Thursday. Officials said the use of the robot to disarm a violent suspect was unprecedented for the Sheriff's Department, and comes as law enforcement agencies increasingly rely on military-grade technology to reduce the risk of injury during confrontations with civilians. "The robot was a game changer here," said Capt. "We didn't have to risk a deputy's life to disarm a very violent man." It began late in the evening of Sept. 8, when deputies in Lancaster were pursuing a man suspected of trying to kill one person and robbing two others. The suspect, Brock Ray Bunge, 51, fled into a dark, remote field in the Antelope Valley.