After long standoff, police arrest suicidal man at Civic Center

San Francisco Police officers responding to a man with a gun, (pictured) in Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, California on Sat. Sept. 24, 2016. San Francisco Police officers responding to a man with a gun, (pictured) in Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, California on Sat. Sept. 24, 2016. Photo: Michael Macor Photo: Michael Macor Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close After long standoff, police arrest suicidal man at Civic Center 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

After a six-hour standoff that forced the evacuation of San Francisco’s City Hall and paralyzed traffic around the Civic Center, police arrested a suicidal man armed with a replica gun Saturday evening.

The man, whose identity has not been released, surrendered peacefully around 6 p.m. after hours of discussions with crisis negotiators from the San Francisco Police Department. He was taken to a local hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

“This could not have ended any better,” said Officer Carlos Manfredi, a San Francisco police spokesman. “Now we can get this guy the help he needs.”

Described as a white San Franciscan in his 40s, the man had spent the afternoon pacing back and forth in Civic Center Plaza across from City Hall, while police closed off all streets for two blocks in each direction. His weapon, which officers initially believed to be a semiautomatic handgun, turned out to be a replica that shoots plastic pellets.

The police also banned overflights by news helicopters, worried that if the man saw himself being filmed, he would commit suicide.

The incident filled the blocks around the plaza with police officers, firefighters, paramedics and FBI agents. Nearby buildings and businesses were evacuated and locked down for most of the afternoon, while traffic on Van Ness Avenue inched past.

The incident started about noon when the man called 911 from the plaza. He told dispatchers that he had a gun, and he threatened to use it on himself and any police officers he came across, Manfredi said.

Officers responding to the scene found him and saw the weapon. Rather than confronting him, they cordoned off the area and brought in crisis negotiators to talk to the man, calm him down and wait him out.

Manfredi said the man had no criminal record in San Francisco. He had recently suffered “personal family” problems, Manfredi said, and was despondent.

“This is a person that was in crisis,” Manfredi said. “He was down and out. He was looking only at one resolution, and after speaking with him, our negotiators talking with him were able to convince him that his life didn’t have to end this way.”

San Francisco police have had to deploy crisis negotiators 75 times this year, a steep increase from 50 deployments last year.

The lockdown of local streets came on a warm weather weekend when the plaza would normally be full of tourists snapping selfies with City Hall in the background.

A concert was planned for the evening at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium across Grove Street from the plaza, while on Van Ness, the San Francisco Opera was due for the final dress rehearsal of its next show, “Don Pasquale.” Fortunately, police began reopening streets through the area around 6:30 p.m., so the shows could go on.

The street closures had frustrated people who had parked their cars in the Civic Center area earlier in the day, only to see their vehicles trapped behind yellow police tape.

Jacques Michaels of San Francisco had parked near the plaza en route to a morning meeting at one of the nearby hotels. He returned only to have police officers on Grove Street block him from retrieving his car. On the other hand, Michaels said he did not want to stumble across an armed man.

“Had I been two minutes earlier, the danger to me would have been even greater, so I’m OK with this,” he said. “I’m just going to try to enjoy this beautiful day in San Francisco.”

David R. Baker and Emily Green are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @davidbakerSF, @emilytgreen