Police Talk Man Into Surrendering

A distraught Simi Valley man barricaded himself inside a local business for more than four hours but surrendered peacefully early Tuesday after talking with crisis negotiators, police said.

The 51-year-old man was taken to a county mental health facility in Simi Valley after the incident ended about 1:30 a.m., Police Sgt. Bob Gardner said. The man will be held and evaluated for 72 hours.

Authorities declined to explain why the man was distraught except to say he was having personal problems, Police Lt. Mike Brewer said.

Officers were called to a small industrial park in the 900 block of Chambers Lane shortly before 9 p.m. Monday. They were told by people who know the man that he was alone inside a shop, armed and suicidal.

At first officers were unable to reach the man by telephone, so SWAT and Crisis Negotiations teams were called in, Gardner said.

Crisis negotiators got the man to answer the telephone and persuaded him to surrender after four hours of talks, Gardner said. No weapon was recovered, he added.