Shooter fires 'dozens' of rounds at police during standoff in NW Houston
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A tense situation has ended in northwest Houston, where police say someone took at least one person hostage at a motel and then opened fire on officers who responded to a 911 call.
A SWAT team was dispatched overnight to the Baron Inn on West 34th Street near the Northwest Freeway, where a 39-year-old man has since been taken into custody.
RAW VIDEO: SWAT team, police surround hotel in northwest Houston
It all began with a call to 911 about a kidnapping in progress. Officers tell Eyewitness News the man took his girlfriend's sister hostage.
Someone called 911 to report the woman was being held against her will inside the motel room, and when police arrived, the suspect allegedly opened fire on officers.
Officers say the suspect told them, "I'm going to die tonight."
VIDEO: Motel guest injured by shooter taken to hospital
Houston police say the male suspect was barricaded inside the motel room with plenty of ammunition. He reportedly had two guns, a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol. Police also say he had several rounds of ammo.
At one point, officers were able to reach the female hostage by phone and were able to coax her out of the room. She was able to escape safely into the hands of SWAT officers.
HPD says the suspect fired dozens of rounds at police over a two-hour period. Officers, however, did not shoot back as they took protective positions behind the armored SWAT vehicles.
The situation ended when the SWAT officers fired tear gas into the motel room. Even still, the suspect continued to open fire at police until he was finally taken into custody.
Fortunately, no officers were injured. HPD says, however, one man who was in an adjacent hotel room was grazed by a bullet when the suspect began to fire bullets through the side wall of his hotel room.
The hotel guest was taken away on a gurney with non-life threatening injuries, and sent to the hospital for treatment.
"That man is surely lucky to be alive," HPD spokesperson Tim Cannon says.
As a precaution, our Eyewitness News crew was kept back for their safety and all lanes on 34th Street were shut down between Mangum and Highway 290.
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