HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A man surrendered after a deadly shooting in a southwest Houston neighborhood sparked an hourslong SWAT standoff, though what exactly led up to the standoff is still unclear.
Houston police got a call on Tuesday afternoon about shots fired at a home in the 4200 block Knotty Oaks Trail, not far from Madison High School. When officers arrived, one man had already barricaded himself inside, police said.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Suspect in custody after hourslong standoff prompted by shooting in southwest Houston: HPD
ABC13’s Courtney Fischer spoke to residents in the neighborhood. One neighbor said they heard four to five shots.
A woman said she happened to be standing in the street and saw a vehicle drive up and three people get out. That’s when she said they started shooting at another group outside the house.
At this point, it’s not clear if the man who barricaded himself inside the home shot anyone or was also a victim.
By the time HPD got a search warrant to go into the home, it was after 10:30 p.m.
Police eventually got the man to surrender just before 11 p.m., after a nearly 10-hour-long standoff.
The SWAT commander said officers hadn’t been able to communicate with the man. When SWAT finally went inside, officials said the suspect was just “standing there.”
“We did leverage family members and anyone who we thought might get through to him. We know that a lot of times, we have people who are afraid — whether it’s the circumstances that they’re in or fear of police, whatever it is — so, we try to overcome those barriers,” Commander Megan Howard said. “And sometimes, family members are able to help us through that.”
In the backyard, police found a man in his 20s dead with a gunshot wound. It’s not clear if the barricaded suspect shot the man, investigators said. They took the suspect downtown, where they interviewed him for several hours. He hasn’t been charged.
Investigators aren’t sure how the situation escalated. The initial call simply said there was an argument happening between two men and guns were involved.
Police said a 13-year-old boy with autism was alone with the suspect inside the home during the standoff.
HPD said the suspect and the teen are related — so HPD officers weren’t worried about the boy’s safety. However, SWAT negotiators were worried the child might be too afraid to come out and trust police.
Thankfully, he eventually did come out, and there was a huge sigh of relief from officers.
The standoff went on for several more hours after the teen came out.
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