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Van Nuys Man Wages Standoff After Allegedly Pointing Gun At Children

VAN NUYS (CBSLA.com) — A tense standoff with an armed man in Van Nuys ended when he surrendered to authorities, allowing hundreds of residents to return home.

LAPD says a woman called around 1 p.m. Friday to say her neighbor was on his balcony and had pointed a gun at her children and other people walking in the area.

When officers arrived to 15951 Sherman Way the gunman was acting erratically, walking in and out of the apartment building several times. Police say he wasn't listening to their orders and they called a SWAT team in.

That's when the man, later identified as Alfredo Gutierrez, holed himself up in his apartment.

Around 45 minutes later, witnesses say he fired at police in what appeared to be a game of hide and seek.

He moved to a stairwell for several hours, where SKY2 captured the suspect sitting on the steps and waving to the helicopter's crew.

Gutierrez's family came to the scene and got him to surrender peacefully. He walked out of the building shortly before 6 p.m. with his hands up.

No one was injured during the incident.

Sherman Way has since been reopened and residents were allowed to enter their homes again.

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