Man’s Surrender Ends 3rd Standoff for SWAT Officers in 24 Hours

An Arleta man, who authorities said repeatedly fired a gun into the air outside his house, was arrested Friday after a five-hour standoff with police--the third in 24 hours in which a special-weapons team surrounded a San Fernando Valley house.

Anthony Mayers, 27, finally walked out of the house in the 8900 block of Woodale Avenue and was wrestled to the ground by Los Angeles police Special Weapons and Tactics Team members when he began to fight with them, police said. Officer Don Lawrence said Mayers was arrested on suspicion of assault.

Six-Hour Incident

Mayers’ capture at 11:45 a.m. came six hours after neighbors reported that he had repeatedly fired a gun outside his home.

The Arleta incident followed an incident Thursday in which SWAT officers entered a house in Studio City at 8:30 p.m. after a six-hour standoff, to find that a man who had held his girlfriend hostage had killed himself with a shotgun.

Police said John Wagner, 34, had used the shotgun to force his way into the house in the 11400 block of Decente Drive at 7 a.m. Thursday. He held a former girlfriend hostage until she was able to escape at 3 p.m. and call authorities, who surrounded the house.

After several hours, SWAT officers entered the house and found Wagner dead.

While the Studio City incident was developing, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department special-weapons team surrounded a house in San Fernando where an argument between a husband and wife ended in gunfire.

A man who had approached the house to help settle the argument was injured, officials said. The shooting victim, Paul Higgins, 31, was treated for a slight arm injury.

The deputies and San Fernando police surrounded the house in the 600 block of Huntington Street at 11 a.m. Three hours later when they entered the home, they found that the 37-year-old suspected gunman had fled.

No Shots Fired

Authorities said no shots were fired by police in any of the incidents.

Friday’s incident began after Mayers went to Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley for treatment of injuries suffered in a fight at a park near his home, police said.

At the hospital, Mayers saw two officers and became angry because police had not been on hand to stop the fight in which he was injured, authorities said.

Mayers went home and fired shots into the air, police said.