A man wanted on an open warrant for assault-family violence by strangulation was taken into custody Monday after an hours-long SWAT standoff at a North Houston apartment complex, following a woman's call to a police victim's service officer asking for help. Houston police responded to the apartment near the intersection of East Crosstimbers Street and Fulton Street at around 3 p.m. after receiving a report that the woman was possibly being held hostage inside, and that the man may have threatened her with a pistol.
According to Click2Houston, the woman had called a victim's service officer directly to request help, rather than going through standard dispatch. Officers who first arrived at the apartment were told by people who answered the door that neither the woman nor the suspect was inside, the outlet reported. SWAT officers were then called in because the suspect might be armed, and they worked to secure the perimeter before attempting any entry, according to KHOU 11, which reported officers first responded at approximately 2:45 p.m.
Drone Locates Sleeping Suspect
Officers tried using a loudspeaker to get the man to come out of the apartment, but he refused, per the Click2Houston report. SWAT eventually broke a window and sent an unmanned drone inside to scout the interior, a tactic that let them locate the suspect without forcing an immediate armed entry, the station's report noted. The drone found him sleeping inside the apartment.
Once he came outside, the suspect became combative with officers, according to the same account, and officers used a taser on him before placing him into custody. The victim and the suspect's mother, who was also inside the apartment, were escorted out by officers. The man was held on the open warrant for assault-family violence by strangulation, and Houston police said they plan to contact the Harris County District Attorney's Office about additional charges pending prosecutor review.
What Additional Charges Could Look Like
Under Texas Penal Code Section 22.01(b)(2)(B), assault-family violence by strangulation is a third-degree felony carrying two to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the Law Office of Kevin Bennett. Texas elevated strangulation to a felony offense in 2009 after research showed it substantially increases the risk of future fatal partner violence, per the same source.
Separately, holding a person against their will can constitute unlawful restraint under Texas Penal Code Section 20.02, which is typically a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail, according to Saputo Toufexis. That charge escalates to a third-degree felony if the victim was recklessly exposed to a substantial risk of serious bodily injury, the firm notes, and prosecutors weigh whether weapons or physical threats were involved when deciding whether to upgrade such charges. Under Harris County procedures, the District Attorney's Office reviews law enforcement evidence before filing formal complaints or presenting new felony charges to a grand jury.
A Call for Help Through a Specialized Program
The woman's initial call went to a victim's service officer rather than routine dispatch, a path tied to the Houston Police Department's Domestic Abuse Response Team, or DART, program. The Victim Services Division's DART program pairs patrol officers with civilian advocates to provide on-scene crisis intervention, safety planning, and legal referrals for survivors, according to the Houston Police Department. Local agencies also lean on validated tools like the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement to identify high-risk intimate partner cases and coordinate multi-agency protection, per the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, with indicators such as strangulation or gun threats often triggering specialized outreach.
Harris County's Rising Domestic Violence Toll
The standoff unfolded against a troubling backdrop for the county. KHOU 11 reported that the Texas Council on Family Violence documented a 34% increase in domestic violence-related homicides in Harris County between 2023 and 2024, rising from 35 to 47 deaths, even as domestic homicides statewide dropped. The Houston Chronicle, citing the same council's data, found Harris County was an outlier in 2024, recording those 47 intimate partner homicides while statewide intimate partner fatalities fell from 205 in 2023 to 161 in 2024.
The Texas Council on Family Violence's annual fatality review, published by the City of Houston, also found that perpetrators of intimate partner violence in Texas killed 16 secondary victims — including family members, friends, and bystanders — in 2023, underscoring the collateral danger such standoffs can pose to relatives and responders alike.
