A Harris County SWAT team swept through the county's criminal courts building in downtown Houston on Thursday after reports of a person acting erratically inside, prompting a floor-by-floor search and a call for mental-health specialists. Authorities located the individual, cleared the scene and kept courthouse operations running with what officials described as minimal disruption.
As reported by FOX 26 Houston, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said the heavy response stemmed from a mental-health episode inside the criminal courts. A FOX 26 crew at the scene described SWAT officers methodically checking the building "floor by floor" while deputies and crisis personnel worked to de-escalate the situation. The sheriff’s office has not yet released additional details about the person's identity or condition.
The call originated at the Harris County Criminal Courts complex at 1201 Franklin Street in downtown Houston, which houses the county's criminal courts and court management offices, according to the county courts' official site. Court administrators have protocols in place for sheltering and evacuating people during security incidents, and the building stayed open for essential functions after deputies cleared the area.
How the county handles mental-health calls
According to Harris County Sheriff's Office policy, deputies are trained to request Crisis Intervention Response Teams and other crisis-trained personnel to assist with behavioral-health incidents. The county also runs the Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART), a public-health-led program that has diverted nonviolent mental-health calls from law enforcement and expanded in recent years, as reported by Houston Chronicle. Those programs are designed to get clinical help to people in crisis while minimizing forceful interventions.
FOX 26 said it will update its report as more information becomes available, and courthouse officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. We will monitor official updates from the Harris County Sheriff's Office and county courts and update this story if the situation changes.
