Newport man, 43, attempts suicide

A 43-year-old man who apparently shot himself in the head barricaded himself inside his Eastbluff neighborhood home for about two hours Wednesday until police were able to rush the house and get him to a local hospital.

The man’s mother called police at about 3 p.m. saying her son tried to kill himself in his home on the 2400 block of Vista Hogar, but he was conscious and talking, Newport Beach Police Lt. Jim Kaminsky said.

When officers arrived at the home, they confirmed that he had shot himself and had several weapons and ammunition, so they stayed back and tried to contact him from outside, Kaminsky said.

SWAT and hostage negotiators tried for about two hours to telephone the man, but they were unsuccessful.

So the SWAT officers stormed the house at about 5 p.m., Kaminsky added.

The man was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Kaminsky did not know how serious the man’s wounds were, and a nursing supervisor at the hospital would not provide any information about him.

— Paul Anderson