At around 9 a.m. last Friday morning, a male in his 50s committed suicide in his front yard in view of his neighbors.

Two women walking a dog past their neighbor’s home in the Westlake Village portion of Thousand Oaks noticed the man was looking through the back of his van for something. The neighbors knew him by name and spoke briefly to him as they passed by, said Thousand Oaks police spokesperson Eric Buschow.

After they’d spoken to him they continued walking past the home in the 2100 block of Waterby Street when they heard a “pop” sound. They stopped, turned around and saw the man falling backward to the ground.

“He shot himself . . . with a shotgun,” Buschow said.

His body was found 8 to 10 feet from the street, the detective said.

“My heart goes out to his family. It’s a total tragedy on so many levels,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Dave Murray.

It’s the policy of the Thousand Oaks Acorn to not release the name of someone who commits suicide unless that person is a public figure.

The newspaper doesn’t report suicides unless the incident occurs in public view or at a public place or along with a homicide.

—Nancy Needham