Man dies by suicide after standoff that shut Hollywood Boulevard for hours, police say

A man who police said was suicidal and armed with a gun in a parked vehicle in Hollywood took his own life Wednesday, ending an hours-long standoff that had closed Hollywood Boulevard and forced evacuations and lockdowns at nearby facilities and schools, according to the LAPD.

Det. Meghan Aguilar, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman, said SWAT officers approached the man’s SUV about 12:30 p.m. — two hours after he’d last communicated with officials on the scene — and determined he was dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

“They put a camera inside the vehicle remotely, on a pole, and they saw he appeared to be deceased,” Aguilar said. Fire Department medics then pronounced him dead, she said.

The man’s death concluded a standoff that began when police received a report about 8:30 a.m. of a suicidal man with a gun in a parking lot in the 1600 block of Schrader Boulevard.

When officers arrived, they saw the man with a firearm, set up a perimeter and called crisis negotiation and mental health teams to the scene as they began evacuating nearby buildings, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center and a construction site across the street.

Two nearby schools, Larchmont Charter School and Selma Elementary, were locked down. On Hollywood Boulevard, store owners couldn’t open shops and people who had parked along several blocks of the busy roadway couldn’t get back to their cars for hours.

Aguilar said the man had “used items in the car to block his windshield and his windows” so that police could no longer observe his actions. Officers finally approached the vehicle after the man stopped responding and they determined that negotiations had stalled, she said.

The man, who was not identified, did not commit any crimes, Aguilar said, and the LAPD would be handing off the investigation to the L.A. County coroner’s office.

Police did not fire any rounds during the incident, Aguilar said.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255 or text HELLO to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.