A man shot at San Diego police officers from both inside and outside a Bankers Hill penthouse Wednesday, leading to a five-hour SWAT standoff that locked down nearby streets and schools and prompted federal aviation officials to cancel incoming flights at Lindbergh Field.

No one was wounded, though dozens of rounds were fired through the day by officers and the gunman, identified as Titus Nathan Colbert, 33, of Las Vegas. He ultimately tossed his guns out and surrendered.

Bankers Hill shooting

"We are so grateful, so thankful, no citizens, no officers, no one was injured," police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said of the standoff.

Residents were told to shelter in place and were warned that Colbert had a high-powered rifle, which, at one point, he shot toward a nearby apartment complex, police said. SWAT officers flooded the area, shutting down streets in an attempt to isolate the shooter, and snipers took positions on nearby rooftops.

Planes weren't allowed to land at Lindbergh Field for hours because arriving aircraft would have had to fly over the condo, which was near the flight path of arriving planes, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. Some flights headed to San Diego from other parts of the country were cancelled, others were delayed.

View the Video Standoff with gunman in Bankers Hill

The incident erupted about 9:10 a.m. when a frightened woman called police because she suspected her ex-boyfriend was in her condo on Brant Street near Kalmia Street.

Two officers and a police dog arrived and took an elevator to the sixth-floor rooftop penthouse. They found a broken sliding glass door and went inside, San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Hastings said.

The officers were immediately shot at through a partially closed interior door, with one round narrowly missing them, Hastings said. The officers returned fire, Hastings said. They retreated, taking the woman, who was outside, with them. They called for backup, triggering the massive police response.

One of the officers is an eight-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department and the other is a four-year veteran, Hastings said.

Colbert walked out of the condo and started shooting again. At least one officer fired back, and Colbert went back inside.

Throughout the afternoon, negotiators tried to persuade Colbert to surrender as he sporadically shot from the residence into the neighborhood, police said. At one point, he shot east toward Albatross Street, and residents in an apartment complex were told to stay inside, San Diego police Lt. Scott Wahl said.

SWAT officers shot tear gas into the penthouse several times and sent in robots to give them a safe look inside.

At one point, Colbert threw a gun out of the residence onto a patio. Right before he surrendered, he dropped a magazine and an AK-47-like rifle out a window, police said.

He gave himself up about 2:40 p.m. Colbert was not injured but was taken to a hospital as a precaution, Hastings said. He was to be booked into county jail on counts of attempted murder on a police officer, possession of an assault rifle and other charges, the lieutenant said.

View the photo gallery: Standoff with gunman ends in Bankers Hill

According to court documents, Colbert has a 2012 conviction on a drug charge in which prosecutors said he sold drugs – MDMA or Ecstasy – to an undercover San Diego police detective in April 2011. Prosecutors said Colbert then directed fellow gang members to follow through with a second drug deal about a week later. He was sentenced to two years in jail. The documents quote a gang detective as saying Colbert was a documented member of a gang that claims territory in southeastern San Diego.

Colbert has a 2003 conviction in San Bernardino County for possession of a weapon while in custody, and a 2010 conviction for aggravated assault with injury in Maricopa County, Arizona. A fugitive complaint was filed in San Diego in 2012, alleging that Colbert, who was on probation, violated the terms of an interstate agreement and should be returned to Arizona. That complaint was dismissed in light of Colbert’s two-year jail sentence in San Diego County, according to court documents.

Colbert is the brother of Tecumseh Colbert, who is on Death Row for fatally shooting Robert Anthony McCamey and Richard Hammes during a 22-day crime spree in 2004.

As the Wednesday incident unfolded, Josh Hauptman, a resident at the complex, said he had just gotten back to his fifth-floor condominium and was getting ready for class when he heard a loud thump from a unit above him. He didn’t think anything of it until he heard what sounded like a shotgun blast. He and his roommate went to their patio where they heard another blast and another.

“We started getting a little nervous,” the 30-year-old law student said. “It was really close by. What if this is happening next to us or right above us? Those shots could go through our walls. What if he had a bomb? I told my roommate we needed to leave.”

When they went out into the hallway, though, they came face-to-face with a SWAT team who trained their rifles upon him, asked him what he was carrying and told him to get back into his apartment. He and his roommate tried to leave again after hearing more shots and, again, were told to get back inside. Soon after, a group of officers came to evacuate them.

"I don’t live in a bad neighborhood. I don’t live in a bad building,” Hauptman said. “So I was really surprised that this kind of event was happening. It didn't fit the scene.”

A rifle is thrown from the building before the suspect gave up after an hours-long standoff in Bankers Hill Wednesday afternoon. — John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune

Carpenter Morgan Davies, 42, of North Park was working on a nearby apartment with an electrician when they heard the shots.

“Then all the sirens and then it all broke loose,” Davies said. “We went up to the roof and saw the sniper plucking out all those windows. ... Eventually the police came and kicked us off the roof.”

Bridget Joseph and her fiance, who live two houses from the complex, were sitting and having morning coffee and cigarettes on a patio when they heard gunshots.

“We heard the first couple of shots and we looked up and saw smoke,” she said. She said they did not see the gunman or the weapon.

Joseph said they stayed in their house until about 10:45 a.m. as officers swarmed the area. Police let them put on their shoes and they were escorted about a block away, as officers in tactical gear set up in their home. She said they hadn't brought any food for their 1-year-old son or money, and they were trying to figure out who they would stay with for the rest of the day.

Washington Elementary School, which is on State Street south of the complex, was locked down and access to the campus was restricted, said San Diego Unified School District spokeswoman Linda Zintz. The school had a minimum day, and students were released at their regular 12:30 p.m dismissal time. School officials found a safe location where children could be reunited with their parents, Zintz said. City Tree Christian School on Date Street was also locked down, San Diego police said.

San Diegans locally and abroad were temporarily stranded by delayed and canceled flights.

David Wright, of Alpine, found himself stuck at the Denver Airport when his San Diego-bound flight was delayed.

“Personally I find this frustrating as I have been traveling for work a ton, and I’m homesick,” said Wright, an oncologist nurse.

Maggie Viger worried her flight to Florida, where family awaited, would be canceled like other flights were in the wake of the shooting. She called the gunman “selfish.”

“I hope he realizes that his actions are affecting a lot of people,” Viger said.

Planes began landing again about 2:30 p.m. Departures were not affected because they take off to the west.

Air travel continued to be impacted into the evening.

Reporters Sandy Coronilla, Dana Littlefield, Gary Robbins and researcher Merrie Monteagudo contributed to this story.