CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : LAGUNA HILLS : Man Gives Up After Standoff

Apparently distraught over a fight with his girlfriend, a 42-year-old man armed with a pistol kept an Orange County sheriff’s SWAT team at bay outside his Laguna Hills apartment for 17 hours before surrendering peacefully, authorities said. Robert James Anderson gave himself up to deputies when he heard a tape-recorded message from his girlfriend saying that she loved him and would not leave him, Sgt. Larry Jones said. The standoff forced the evacuation of about a dozen residents from neighboring apartment units. A nearby shopping center was closed. Before surrendering, Anderson had repeatedly asked the deputies to shoot him.