Gunman Opens Fire on Police, Then Gives Up : Shootout: Officers responded to a 911 call from the suspect, who sounded disoriented and said he had been kidnaped. The incident ended peacefully five tense hours later.

An out-of-work equipment operator shot at police from his seaside apartment early Sunday, then talked with police negotiators for nearly five hours before finally surrendering.

About 50 police officers, including hostage negotiation and SWAT teams, descended on the low-rent building in the 600 block of Walnut Avenue before dawn, finally arresting Kent Leroy Maynard, 40, about 10 a.m. on suspicion of assaulting an officer and a neighbor with a deadly weapon, Police Lt. Ed McErlain said.

Apparently confused, Maynard claimed to be pursued by drug dealers and several times shouted that he could not find work, witnesses said.

“He will be interviewed and evaluated,” McErlain said. “We don’t know his mental condition, whether he has mental problems, was intoxicated or on drugs.”

Although two shots entered neighbors’ apartments, and the alley outside Maynard’s first-floor apartment was littered with more than two dozen bullet shells and one rifle cartridge, no one was hurt in the rainy morning shootout.

Police first responded to a 911 call from Maynard’s apartment about 5:30 a.m., McErlain said. Maynard “sounded confused and disoriented,” describing suspicious circumstances and saying he was kidnaped. He gave a wrong address, but 911 calls automatically show the address of the caller, and two officers went to Maynard’s apartment.

“They were fired upon twice with a shotgun and a handgun,” but neither was hit, McErlain said. The officers returned fire and called for additional officers.

“There was a massive exchange of gunfire,” said one neighbor, Dave Pederson, 24, who leaped out of bed when he heard gunshots and ran to the alley to see what was happening.

Realizing that he was caught between Maynard and the police, he dived under a camper parked on the street, where he stayed for two hours, listening to the negotiations as day broke.

Others watched from their apartments. Witnesses said Maynard believed that the officers were drug dealers and demanded that they prove their identity. He said several times that he was “drug free” and demanded that police call his parents in Stillwater, Okla.

Negotiators talked to Maynard about hunting and fishing and tried to reach him by phone but he would hang up on them, McErlain said. Maynard gave up after waving a broom handle with a roll of toilet paper on the end, witnesses said.

He came out, naked except for a cap and a white towel covering his raised hands. He responded to orders to drop the towel and was taken into custody. He is being held at Huntington Beach City Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Some neighbors described Maynard as a nice man who paid his rent on time. However, another neighbor, Danny Weil, said Maynard could be heard fighting over parking spaces.

John Loker, manager of the two-story converted motel where Maynard lives, said Maynard had been working as a heavy-equipment operator when he moved in seven years ago but injured his back and had been unable to work for four years. He recently received a disability settlement but was still bent over from the pain and was taking medication, Loker said.

Without work, Maynard spent his days watching television, hunting and fishing, Loker said. He was very attentive to the stray neighborhood cats, he said.

On New Year’s Eve, neighbors said police were called after Maynard lit a fire in the yard and streaked around the building naked and talked about Jesus. At the time, it seemed like a New Year’s extravagance, but in retrospect, it might have been a sign that Maynard was “losing it,” neighbors said.