Laguna Woods residents point toward the house where a fellow resident was shot during a deputy-involved shooting in Laguna Woods on Tuesday, Feb 6. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Police and detectives leave the scene of a deputy-involved shooting in Laguna Woods on Tuesday, Feb 6. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Police investigate a deputy-involved shooting in Laguna Woods on Tuesday, Feb 6. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Police investigate a deputy-involved shooting in Laguna Woods on Tuesday, Feb 6. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



LAGUNA WOODS – Sheriff’s deputies responded just after 1 p.m. Tuesday to shots fired in the gated community here, with the suspect – apparently angered by new floor plans for his home – shot by at least one deputy and taken to a hospital.

The suspect, who lives in the low-crime Laguna Woods Village development for senior citizens that takes up much of the city of Laguna Woods, was said to have been upset with the floor plans for the home he purchased months ago.

The man, who is in his mid-60s, was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo in extremely critical condition, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.

Jennifer Heflin, a real estate agent for the suspect, said she delivered the floor plans and was working with the contractor to remodel the home in the 600 block of Avenida Sevilla. Sensing there might be a confrontation, Heflin called the contractor before entering the home and turned the phone’s speaker on in case things got out of hand.

When the suspect saw the plans, she recounted, he began yelling, “These aren’t right!”

Then, she said, he pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot the contractor, who was outside.

Dennis Metzler, the contractor, said when he heard the threats on the phone he called 911: “He was yelling; he was upset.”

Sherriff’s deputies arrived and entered the house, Metzler said, while he and Heflin waited near the carport.

“They went to his door, yelling, ‘Put the gun down! Get down!’ and then we heard the shots,” Metzler said, adding there was one shot followed by four shots.

A resident of Laguna Woods Village, John Glebaucis, 84, said he also heard five gunshots and, a couple of minutes later, sirens.

“We ran down, and they were already blocking off the area,” he said.