Man Held After Barricading Self, Sons

An armed man who barricaded himself and his two sons in his Agoura Hills home for several hours surrendered to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday afternoon.

The man, identified as Wilson Aberin, was arrested and may be charged with child endangerment, authorities said. Neither he nor the children were harmed in the tense incident.

Aberin was distraught over his marriage and was threatening to kill himself with one of at least three guns in his house, authorities said. Aberin and his wife, Noralyn, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills, recently separated, deputies said.

Wilson Aberin is a 46-year-old respiratory therapist at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, officials said.

During numerous phone conversations throughout the morning, Aberin told his wife: “I love you. I want you. Please come back. Don’t divorce me,” according to Gean Okada, a sheriff’s department crisis negotiator.

Aberin did not threaten his sons, who tried to prevent their father from killing himself, deputies said. The eldest son, 13, came out of the house of his own accord at 9 a.m. Okada said both sons were reluctant to leave their father’s side, fearing he would shoot himself.

The elder son told reporters he was awakened Wednesday morning by his younger brother, 12, telling his father: “Don’t do it.”

“I’m going to shoot myself,” the older boy said he heard his father reply.

At 5:45 a.m., the elder son called his mother and told her that his father was holding a gun in his mouth, deputies said.

Noralyn Aberin then called the Lost Hills sheriff’s station, which sent the crisis negotiation team and the special weapons team to the scene. Sheriff’s deputies later determined from his wife and state records that Wilson Aberin possessed a high-powered rifle and two semiautomatic handguns.

Once the elder son left the house, the younger son refused to leave his father even when sheriff’s deputies and his mother urged him to do so, authorities said.

“It appears that the father and son are very close . . . the child wants to be in there,” Sheriff’s Capt. Bill McSweeney said. “Apparently this guy is not a violent person and has no history of depression. This is a well-respected family, a family that’s active in the community.”

The younger son and his father finally came out of the house at 1:25 p.m. without incident.

Both sons will stay with their mother, authorities said.