Standoff Ends Peacefully in Laguna Niguel

A 25-hour standoff ended peaceably Tuesday when a distraught man who had holed up in his Laguna Niguel apartment with a semiautomatic pistol surrendered to police.

Charles Lang, 37, was taken to a local hospital for psychiatric evaluation, said Larry Abbott, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “He just walked out this morning and gave himself up,” Abbott said.

The standoff began about 9 a.m. Monday after police were alerted by Lang’s former boyfriend, who lives out of state, that he had received disturbing e-mail photos showing Lang holding a gun. A sheriff’s spokesman was unable to provide the man’s name.

As police negotiators spoke with the distraught Lang by telephone late Monday, he said he was upset over the recent breakup with the boyfriend and intended to commit suicide. He appeared several times on the balcony of the apartment in the 31500 block of East Nine Drive holding the gun to his chest.

As a result, Abbott said, the residents of several nearby condos had to be evacuated and the adjacent El Niguel Country Club partially closed, halting a golf tournament in progress. The residents and golfers were able to resume their normal activities after Lang suddenly emerged from his apartment and gave himself up about 10 a.m. Tuesday.