Seal Beach Police Subdue Gunman Inside Leisure World Apartment

A 27-year-old Long Beach man who brandished a handgun and barricaded himself inside an apartment at Leisure World in Seal Beach was subdued and taken into custody Friday by members of the Seal Beach Police Department SWAT team.

Residents of the gated community alerted private security officers that a man, later identified by police as Nicomedes Langsang Zapanta, was driving a vehicle in a reckless manner, waving a handgun and shouting obscenities at passers-by. The man, identified by Leisure World security officers as a personal attendant of a Leisure World resident, subsequently eluded security officers and ran into Apt. 117 C at 1601 Golden Rain Road.

The occupants of the apartment fled, and Seal Beach police were called. Zapanta barricaded himself in the apartment, police said, and refused to leave. After more than two hours, members of the SWAT team evacuated an adjoining apartment and then forced their way through the front door of the barricaded apartment.

No shots were fired, but Sgt. Ross Smith and Officer Michael Vasquez sustained minor injuries when Zapanta resisted arrest, according to Seal Beach police dispatcher Joanne Lee. Both officers were treated at Los Alamitos Medical Center and released.

Zapanta was being held at the Seal Beach jail.