A suspect was charged after a tense face-off with the Houston Police Department that led to an officer firing his weapon yesterday. Identifying the man as 38-year-old Manuel Martinez, authorities booked him on multiple charges, including aggravated assault against a public servant and deadly conduct, according to a news release.
After responding to a call about a disturbance involving a weapon, officers found Martinez holed up in a recreational vehicle, where he expressed suicidal intentions and a desire to provoke police into shooting him, as the news release described. Caught in a broken window around 1:55 a.m. pointing what looked like a long gun at Officer M. Najera, who was sworn in just last October, discharged his weapon toward Martinez but did not hit him. This tense standoff, fortunately, resulted in no injuries.
Details provided by the HPD stated that the Special Investigations Unit and the Internal Affairs Division are conducting an investigation into the incident, as is the protocol for officer-involved shootings in the city limits. During the scenario, which escalated over several hours, the department's SWAT and Hostage Negotiation Teams were called to the scene, culminating in Martinez's surrender around 5:40 a.m.
The details of the chaotic night were ironed out further by HPD Special Investigations Unit Sergeant D. Lane and Detectives J. Montalvo, N. Arellano, and W. Elliott. Martinez initially barricaded himself in the RV, which led to the summoning of additional crisis response units. After almost four hours of negotiations and strategic police positioning, the standoff came to an end with the suspect's surrender and the charges that followed.
