A LITTLE BIT OF EXCITEMENT IN MY HOMETOWN

Harris County deputy shot by handcuffed suspect

By Jay R. Jordan, Keri Blakinger and Tulsi Kamath

Houston Chronicle
February 1, 2018

HOUSTON — The handcuffed suspect who shot a Harris County sheriff's deputy in the arm and sparked a SWAT standoff was found dead early Thursday inside a home near Spring.

It's not clear if he died by suicide or was shot by deputies, officials said.

The chaos started late Wednesday, when just before 10 p.m. four deputies arrived at a home in the 2500 block of Kiplands Way to make an arrest stemming from an earlier deadly conduct incident involving a weapon.

As they handcuffed the man, he pulled a handgun from his waistband and started firing, according to Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

One deputy was hit in the forearm while another narrowly escaped injury when the bullet grazed his pant leg. The suspect continued shooting and deputies returned fire.

At some point, another man inside the home was wounded in the exchange of shots. He did not have anything to do with the deadly conduct charge, deputies said, and was taken by LifeFlight helicopter ambulance to a hospital in critical condition.

The gun-toting man holed up in the home - still handcuffed - and refused to come out, sparking a late-night SWAT standoff.

Deputies said the man may not have realized his wife was also inside the house, hiding on another level.

Fearing for her safety, hostage negotiators showed up shortly before 11 p.m. and helped get the woman out safe just before midnight.

Meanwhile, the wounded deputy was rushed to Memorial Hermann The Woodlands. Authorities said he was alert and expected to survive.

Deputies shut down parts of Kuykendahl Road and dozens of officers, including SWAT, the Department of Public Safety and Precinct 4 deputy constables flooded the scene as the standoff continued into the night.

Eventually, SWAT entered the home and searched the downstairs with the help of a robot.

As they scoured the second floor around 12:30 a.m., officers found the suspect dead inside.

"I think he was still handcuffed," Gilliland said.

Officials did not immediately release the dead man's name, but said he would be transported to the medical examiner for an autopsy.

"They will determine what gunshot wounds killed, whether it was self-inflicted or came from our deputies," Gilliland said.

Homicide and crime scene investigators took over the scene to determine what happened.