30 homes evacuated in Los Angeles-area standoff with gunman

NORWALK, Calif. – Authorities say they’ve evacuated 30 homes in a Los Angeles suburb because a gunman has barricaded himself in a house.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the 37-year-old man has a rifle and is wearing a bulletproof vest.

The standoff in Norwalk began at about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday when a joint federal, state and local task force tried to arrest the man, who’s on probation for armed bank robbery after serving nine years in prison.

Authorities say when task force members approached him the man pointed the rifle at them and then ran back into the home, where another man is also barricaded.

The men had yet to come out more than six hours later.

Crisis negotiators and police dogs have joined deputies and U.S. marshals at the scene.