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PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Police on Sunday praised a dispatcher and crisis negotiator for persuading a gunman to surrender after he allegedly shot and killed three people in a Southern California neighborhood, wounded two others and fired on officers.

John Izeal Smith, 35, is suspected of killing a woman inside a Pasadena house, then killing two men outside and firing at officers before holing up back inside the house where the violence began.

Smith surrendered after a tense, 20-minute call to the dispatcher who was assisted by a crisis negotiator, Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said in a statement.

"The suspect willfully murdered and injured innocent people without warning as he fired more than 40 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle," Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez said in a statement Sunday. "However, the courage of our dispatchers, police officers, firefighters and community members who valiantly tried to help the victims is impressive and speaks to the resolve of our community."

The statement said the dispatcher and crisis negotiator convinced the gunman to surrender in part through their calm demeanor. Officials planned to release a recording of the 911 call on Monday.

The woman killed in the house was identified as 59-year-old Maria Teresa Aguiar. The identities of the two men have not been released pending notification of family, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said.

Two others suffered minor to moderate injuries.

Police said the shooting may have something to do with landlord-tenant dispute, but Aguiar's brother told KCAL-TV the shooting was a case of domestic violence. Carlos Aguiar said Smith was his sister's live-in boyfriend.

Officers who responded to the scene came under heavy attack as they approached one of the victims outside, police said. They sought cover and their cars were struck with bullets. No officers were injured.

MANDAREE, N.D. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it is assessing a spill of oil-drilling saltwater from a North Dakota pipeline to ensure none of the brine reached a nearby bay.

In its first statement in the two days since the spill was detected, the agency said Thursday it had no confirmed reports that the saltwater had reached the water body that feeds Lake Sakakawea. The lake provides drinking water for an American Indian reservation.

EPA says most of the spill was pooled on the ground, soaked into the soil and held behind beaver dams.

The agency said the leak involved an estimated 24,000 barrels, or 1 million gallons, of saltwater and condensate, which are byproducts of oil and gas production.

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ABERDEEN, Scotland (AP) — Relinquishing the Scottish Open title isn't stopping Phil Mickelson from feeling supremely confident heading into his defense of the British Open next week.

The American finished his tune-up for Hoylake with a 6-under 65 in the final round at Royal Aberdeen, with an 8-under total leaving him eight shots behind winner Justin Rose on Sunday.

However, Mickelson again looked at home on the links this week and says going to the British Open will be an enjoyable experience now he has finally won the claret jug.

"I'm able to go there as a past champion, as opposed to a foreign player who has never been able to conquer links golf," Mickelson said. "I just go there with a whole different confidence level.

"There's a fraction of the pressure that I felt before Open Championships from years prior, because once you've already won it, once you have held the claret jug and have won, it just feels different. You don't feel like you have to fight it. You don't have to force it."

Mickelson arrived in Aberdeen without a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season but believes his sharpness is back.

"I feel a lot better than I did a week ago," he said. "I feel like I have direction in my ballstriking and direction in my short game and putting, and I feel good with those areas.

"I would love to have had a higher finish than I did this week, but it was still a really good week for me."