Phone Call Solves Standoff Between Newport Beach Man and Police

What began as a three-hour standoff between police, the SWAT team, hostage negotiators and an armed man in a Newport Beach apartment may turn out to have been something a little less dramatic--an intoxicated man who had passed out and says he didn’t even know police were outside, Sgt. Pete Perrin said.

About 2:15 a.m. Saturday, Newport Beach police were called to the 7400 block of Seashore Drive by neighbors who saw Larry Sepulveda, 36, brandishing an assault rifle, Sgt. Craig Frizzell said.

When police arrived, Sepulveda’s girlfriend, a 28-year-old woman police declined to identify, was fleeing the house. She told officers Sepulveda had hit her in the face and pointed the rifle at her, Frizzell said.

Police tried to call the man on the home phone, a cell phone and a pager, but he did not answer. Because Sepulveda was armed and not answering, Frizzell said police considered him a “barricaded subject.” The SWAT team and hostage negotiators were called out, and officers evacuated an unknown number of nearby houses, Frizzell said.

As the SWAT team arrived, a police phone call to the house finally roused Sepulveda, Perrin said. He peacefully surrendered and told police he did not realize they were outside, Perrin added.

Shortly after 5 a.m., Sepulveda was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and is being held at the Newport City Jail, Frizzell said.

His girlfriend had no visible injuries, Perrin said.