At 12:15 p.m. Friday, a man, later identified as Hsmel Mansour, 50, and who sheriffs said lived in the San Fernando Valley, called the California Highway Patrol on his cell phone from the Michael Landon Center at Bluffs Park and advised them he was going to shoot himself and also any police he saw if they responded.
The Lost Hills sheriffs were advised and responded immediately and also called for a sheriff’s crisis negotiator and a sheriff’s swat team, called the SEB (Service & Enforcement Bureau). When the Lost Hills sheriffs arrived on the scene, they were advised by a witness the man had been hanging around all day and drove into the parking lot in what was thought to be a Ford Explorer. The sheriffs were confronted by two white Ford Explorers parked in the parking lot and a white Ford Expeditio0n leaving the lot as they arrived. Some sheriffs followed the Expedition while the others staked out the other two vehicles.
The man was spotted sitting on a bench on the southern part of the soccer field, the part closest to the bluff. He appeared to be sitting with a stainless-steel revolver. The sheriffs encircled him but kept their distance while a helicopter circled above. They tried calling him on his cell phone, whose number had been traced, but apparently he had turned it off. The man put the gun down and lay down on the grass and appeared to be momentarily sleeping.
As the newly arrived SWAT team was being briefed, the man appeared to wake up, sat up, put the gun on the table and started walking toward the officers.
According to Sheriff’s Department Lt. Thom Bradstock, the man, a white-haired Caucasian, staggered somewhat as he walked and appeared somewhat disoriented. He generally followed officers instructions but appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.When he got within 10 feet of the officers, they instructed him to put his hands on his head and turn his back to them, which he did. Although he didn’t resist, he appeared to be almost uninterested, according to the Lieutenant. One of the officers thought he recognized him as being from the Agoura Hills area and as someone he had once ticketed for a traffic infraction.
The man’s weapon was a .38-caliber, chrome-plated, loaded revolver, registered to him.
Because of his unusual behavior, he was taken to the locked psychiatric ward at Olive View Hospital in Sylmar for a 72-hour psychiatric observation. He may be charged with carrying a concealed or concealable weapon.