Police respond after man barricades himself in Laguna hotel, but then he disappears

An hours-long standoff sparked by an odor at the La Casa del Camino hotel Friday ended when the Orange County SWAT team found that a man who had barricaded himself inside a room was no longer there, Laguna Beach police said.

In a media briefing at 2:30 p.m., Laguna Sgt. Tim Kleiser said it’s unclear how the 52-year-old Gilroy man escaped from the third-floor room, adding that they were not treating it as a criminal matter.

The man, whom police did not identify, had locked himself inside the room earlier in the day after resisting police orders to evacuate the hotel, at 1289 S. Coast Hwy.

“His eyes were watery and red,” Kleiser said. “He appeared affected by the odor.”

A hotel employee called 911 at 6:45 a.m. after a guest reported what Laguna Beach fire officials described as a “strong perfume smell,” Kleiser said.

Authorities issued a voluntary evacuation at first but upgraded it to a requirement that all people inside exit after the man refused to leave, Kleiser said.

Authorities then tried calling the room but received no answer, Kleiser said.

Laguna resident George West, who was on the patio of nearby Avila’s El Ranchito during the commotion, said he got a call earlier from a friend saying hotel guests had streamed into the restaurant complaining of burning eyes and nausea.

Police cordoned off a portion of Cress Street that runs alongside the hotel as passersby on South Coast Highway stood watching.

Orange County hazmat officials tested the air inside the room for hazardous chemicals but found none, Kleiser said in a follow-up phone interview.

One theory, Kleiser said, is that cologne spilled onto a heater in the room, causing the odor.

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Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce