A nearly eight-hour standoff ended Sunday evening after sheriff’s deputies used tear gas to take a barricaded suspect in Lakewood into custody, officials said.

It started at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning when a resident of a house on the 5400 block of Spahn Avenue got home and found a stranger inside his house, according to the sheriff’s station. No one else was inside the home. The resident left the home and called police to report the man, who was suspected of trying to burglarize the home.

“When deputies arrived, they saw the male suspect walking around inside the home with an assault rifle,” Sheriff’s officials said. “He then pointed the rifle at the deputies.”

A crisis negotiation team with the department’s special enforcement tried to make contact with the suspect during the standoff, said Deputy Wally Bracks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Surrounding homes were evacuated for safety.

Officers deployed gas into the house to force the man out after trying for hours to get him to exit peacefully. He eventually came out and was taken into custody without further incident, officials said.

Robert Arista, a 38-year-old transient, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and burglary. He is being held in lieu of a $200,000 bail.

Officials ask that anyone with information about this incident to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lakewood Station at 562-623-3500.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information from Sheriff’s officials. 

City News Service contributed to this report.