A 21-year-old man is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation after he barricaded himself in his bedroom and threatened to kill himself with a gun on Wednesday evening.

The man called his mother after locking himself in the bedroom of his West Irvin Avenue apartment, the State College Police Department said yesterday. He told his mother he had drunk almost an entire fifth of whiskey, was armed with a .380-caliber handgun and was going to kill himself. The woman called State College police from her home in the Philadelphia area, police said.

Police went to the apartment at about 6:30 Wednesday evening. They did not enter the apartment, but were able to communicate with the man's three roommates, who were evacuated from the building. Cpl. Tom Dann said the man's roommates realized the man was upset, but did not know the severity of the situation. The man did not threaten his roommates, Dann said.

After the roommates were evacuated, Dann contacted the man over the phone. The two spoke for about 10 minutes before the man surrendered. No one was injured, police said.

Confusion arose, however, as the man exited his apartment. Dann instructed the man to hang up the phone and to come out of his apartment with his hands above his head. The man did not follow these instructions and instead came out of the apartment while still on the phone. Afraid that the phone would be mistaken as a gun, Dann said he quickly informed the other officers at the scene that the object was a telephone.

The man became cooperative after leaving the apartment, Dann said. Dann also said the man appeared to be very intoxicated. He was taken to Mount Nittany Medical and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

After the man exited the apartment, police found an unloaded .380-caliber handgun. Dann said he told the man while on the phone to unload it.

Charges will probably not be filed in the incident, police said.