By Town Crier Staff

A six-hour police standoff with an armed Los Altos man ended in suicide last week. Los Altos police said a despondent 51-year-old man shot himself in the head with a rifle while the Los Altos and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s SWAT teams surrounded his Julie Lane house and waited for him to surrender Sept. 23.

A family member called 911 at 1:06 p.m. to report the man had made suicidal threats. The family had taken a handgun away from him and locked it in a car outside, but the man owned several firearms still in the house, the caller told police.

Police closed off Julie Lane and tried to negotiate with the man, but he was unresponsive, police said.

Los Altos Police Sgt. John Hughmanick said police believe, based on witnesses’ accounts, the man may have fired the shot that fatally wounded him between 1 and 1:30 p.m., before or while police set up a perimeter around the property. Police remained outside the home until about 7 p.m., when they discovered the man was dead.

Police are still investigating the incident, Hughmanick said.

The man had no previous history with the police, he added.