A SWAT standoff ensued late last night after a suspect who was being served a warrant decided to barricade himself inside his home located in the 9200 block of Opelika while posting to social media (Instagram: @hardtokilltrappa). He was eventually taken into custody.
Here is the raw transcript (unedited) of the media briefing that took place on scene after the suspect was placed into custody:
“My name is Ben Tien last name spelled Tien assistant chief of the Houston Police Department . At approximately 7:45 p.m. today. Our S.W.A.T. officers at this location, which is a residence at the 9200 block of Opelika, i’ma spell it out
I don’t want to butcher the street name. It’s O-p-e-l-i-k-a it’s in the northwest part of town, but basically, our officers found out , you know, find out the suspect has a felony aggravated assault, family violence, warrant So they’re here to execute a warrant as they arrive.
They immediately noticed they were five people in front of the residence outside the yard. They immediately detained those individual. To find out more about the suspect at the same moment, those individuals pointed to the officer that the suspect and confirmed that the suspect inside the residence at the same time they began to surround the residence and began
calling using verbal commands to call the suspect out of the residence through multiple attempts. And I do want to emphasize multiple attempts to no avail. At the same time, they began to systematically try to enter the residence, to search for the suspect, to locate the suspect as they were searching the residence.
The suspect, in close proximity, appeared to be hiding behind a ambush position and shot at one of our officers and close range. The actual round itself did not impact and struck our officer. However, the fragments of the bullet.
It is believed the fragment of the bullets actually struck an officer. That officer was was driven to the hospital and he was treated and subsequently released shortly thereafter with minor injuries to his face. Meanwhile, back to the scene as a suspect shot at officers, four officers returned fire to protect himself and immediately basically retreat back away from
the house to a position where they would take cover as they were taking cover to continue trying to call the suspect out. The suspect began to get further inside the house to further conceal himself and basically barricade himself at the time.
And then we have what we call a barricaded suspect situation. SWAT officer continues around the house and give verbal commands a call to the suspect out to no avail. Meantime, our hostage negotiation team also deployed to the scene to begin negotiating.
After multiple attempts, multiple attempts be mindful you now. The incident start around 7:45 p.m. today, last night and now is almost close to 2:00 a.m. So over six hours of negotiation, the suspect has finally taken into custody. Officers were able to deploy some chemical munition, along with some less lethal ammunition, to contain the suspect and take him into custody
. It is believed that the suspect was not struck as a result, though also returning fire at the time, though the initial confrontation and that was the only time during an initial confrontation that the SWAT also discharged a firearm.
Now, however, during the course, with officers taking the suspect in custody, the suspect actually fired multiple times. At one point, it is believed the officer actually fired at one of the officers who was behind a fixed position behind an armored vehicle.
But this said, the suspect is currently getting treated right now. It’s going to get transported to a hospital. As mentioned, he has the active felony family violence warrant. Any charges, potential charges? You know this? As you all know, we will consult with the District Attorney’s Office for additional charges.
But meanwhile, as like any officer involved shooting, we have our investigators with a homicide special investigative unit is here to conduct an investigation. Also, our investigators with the Internal Affairs Division is also running a parallel administrative investigation. The DA’s office has been notified of the Civil Rights Unit has been notified and they will take it from there
. Meanwhile, our team from the forensic science team, the crime scene unit, will also hear gather evidence like per policy and establish protocol. We have for officers involved shootings. Those officer who were involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative duties, you know, pending this investigation.
And the question could use some kind of armored vehicle to breach the residence. That is correct in order for us to safety, but also safety and for us to safely contain the situation. We did use a armored vehicle to reach the house to try to get the suspect in custody, as I mentioned earlier.
This is when the suspect actually shot at the armored vehicle. Did you recover? Any weapons from the suspect is simply part of the investigation. It’s extremely preliminary right now, as you know, this scene just concluded probably ten minutes ago, and they’re still going through all the evidence right now.
But yes, that will be quite an investigation. And then posting on social media during the during the situation, showing guns and threatening the police and stuff to do that, make an impact on your Twitter handle the situation. So thanks for asking.
So we have been posting on social media, you know, making threats or having a shootout with officers, something of that. But you know, we are extremely fortunate today. We have some of the most professional and dedicated men and women out there, you know, swat options out there, you know, to exercise the highest level of restraint.
This is why we were able to peacefully resolve this matter without any loss of life. And every time we were able to resolve any situation in an instant without the loss of life, it’s always a win for us.
Can you describe the suspect’s age race suspect white male, approximately 21 years of age? OK. Was anybody else home at the time besides the people that were outside or there were about five folks outside? You know, they were temporarily detained for questioning.
You know, of course, the investigation is still active right now. Meanwhile, in terms of just inside the residence, the suspects, the suspect was inside by himself. Any other questions? What kind of damage is to the house with them?
I mean, did you guys go through a wall or the windows, obviously, or the roof? Well, it’s well, it’s got to be part of it, right? So it’s, you know, chemical ammunition was deployed and I wasn’t able to get close enough to see it right.
And I would ask you guys not to get too close to see it right with our gas masks. I was just going to ask, are we allowed to go record the damage? I would give some time letters to the store to all the evidence first allowed the forensic science team the crime scene unit to go through all
the evidence before you actually get close enough. Chief The reason why for all the damage is because the danger that he presented for firing on officers. That is correct. Now you can imagine now you can imagine now, you know, as you guys mentioned earlier in social media, he made multiple threats, right?
You know, threatened to have a shootout with officer while the officer is trying to negotiate and engage the suspect. He fired multiple rounds. I do want to emphasize multiple rounds, right? So as you can imagine, how dangerous that is, right?
That is the only way, the safest way we can negotiate, you know, to try to, you know, get the thing to a safe resolution without any loss of life. But frankly, you guys did a great job. I think you did a great job.”
