Yorba Linda : Man Shoots Self After Standoff With Police

A 29-year-old man died early Saturday, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after holding police at bay for more than two hours at his parents’ home, a police spokesman said.

Lt. Don Rogers said Lawrence Alfred Ward shot himself at 5 a.m. in the 18000 block of Montecito Drive.

Rogers said Ward apparently had argued Friday night with his estranged girlfriend and then fired a shot at the woman’s date.

Ward barricaded himself at 2:40 a.m. and then allowed his parents and sister to leave. Rogers said Ward told police officers, who were talking to him on the telephone, that he would surrender after he showered. But the eight officers outside the house then heard the shot. His body was found in a bedroom.

The police spokesman said that neighbors had not been evacuated during the standoff and that Ward did not threaten anyone else.

Rogers said that shortly before Ward barricaded himself in the house, police had received a call from a woman who said that her boyfriend had accosted her and a man as they returned from a date. She said she was assaulted and an errant shot had been aimed at her date.

Rogers also said that investigators had not yet determined if Ward’s death had been intentional.