Armed Fan Breaks Into Gless’ Home : Actress: Distraught invader barricades self in bathroom, surrenders in seven-hour standoff.

A distraught fan armed with a rifle broke into the unoccupied Studio City home of actress Sharon Gless this morning and barricaded herself in a bathroom, police said. The woman, who reportedly threatened suicide, surrendered unharmed almost seven hours later after talking with police negotiators.

Detectives said Joni Leigh Penn, 30, had been under a court order to stop bothering the co-star of the television show “Cagney and Lacey.”

Penn forced her way into the house in the 4700 block of Teesdale Avenue about 3:15 a.m., triggering a silent burglar alarm, according to Officer C. K. Wikamp of the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood station.

“When officers arrived, they spotted her inside,” Witkamp said. “She spotted them and she pointed (the rifle) at her head, threatening to shoot herself.”

Capt. Dan Watson, the station commander, said police brought in a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and evacuated the homes surrounding the secluded, single-story house at the end of a short cul-de-sac backing the Ventura Freeway.

A specially trained police negotiator was brought in to talk to Penn, who had retreated into a back bathroom and locked the door. According to Watson, Penn objected that the negotiator was a man and a woman negotiator was summoned.

As the morning wore on, scores of reporters and camera operators descended on the quiet, middle-class neighborhood. In addition to local news crews, there were camera teams from the entertainment beat and reporters representing foreign media.

Neighbors told reporters that Gless had owned the house for years but now only visited the home occasionally, preferring to live instead in another home in the Los Angeles area.

The morning’s long wait ended at 10 a.m. with an announcement by Watson that Penn had surrendered.

“She finally wore down, got tired, came out and turned over the weapon,” the captain said.

Police hustled the short, plump, handcuffed woman into a patrol car and drove her to the North Hollywood station for questioning. The rifle, a semiautomatic .22-caliber AT-22, was confiscated as evidence. Police did not say whether it was loaded.

The court order was issued Nov. 16, 1988, on the grounds that Penn had harassed and threatened Gless and her family, in part by writing the actress a number of letters. It ordered Penn to remain at least 1,000 yards from the home.

Court files show Penn’s psychiatrist had told Gless in January, 1988, that his patient had threatened to shoot herself in front of the actress. On Oct. 25, 1988, Penn allegedly went to the home and told the actress’ secretary that she had a gun, fleeing before police arrived.

Watson said someone shattered a window in an apparent attempt to break into the home Monday night but left without making entry. He said Penn apparently entered the home this morning by forcing a door.

Neighbors said that in years past, Gless made no secret of her residence, even posting an old street sign by the driveway that proclaimed it “Gless St.” In recent years, they said, the sign was taken down, and Gless stopped driving a car with personalized plates.