LAPD's SWAT Unit Apprehends Man with Gun in Playa del Rey

A drunken man armed with a revolver fell asleep Tuesday evening in Playa del Rey on the south jetty for several hours before he was awakened and taken into custody, police said.

The incident started about 3:30 p.m. when two boys spotted the man on the jetty with a gun and alerted authorities.

The Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT unit was called to the scene and the area was cordoned off from residents with yellow police tape. A police helicopter circled the man for several hours with a spotlight trained on him as he somehow slept through the noise. Several unmarked cars with SWAT team members rushed down Culver Boulevard to the scene and a police psychologist also was summoned.

"We went out there and apparently in his intoxication he fell asleep," said Cmdr. Andrew Smith. "The SWAT team went out there, woke him up and took him into custody."

The SWAT team drove an armored truck onto the jetty and then approached the man and woke him, Smith said. He was taken into custody about 6:40 p.m.

"I think they did it fairly gently and they got the pistol that he had," Smith said.

There was no use of force by officers and no injuries, he said. The caliber of the revolver was not immediately known.

Police were still determining what charges would be lodged against the man.

(Editor's Note: This version replaces an earlier version of the story.)