Mathis standoff ends after suspect commits suicide

Corpus Christie, Texas. The standoff at S. Perez Street and 704 County Road in Mathis ended after a suspect killed himself on Tuesday afternoon.

An armed “wanted criminal” barricaded himself at the home of an 80-year-old man in Mathis at 7:04 a.m. after being chased by Mathis police for hours, Mathis Police Chief Scott Roush and San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera said. .

Roush said his officers began following the suspect around 2 a.m. when he reportedly broke into a house outside of Mathis. Rivera said the man then kidnapped the girl, who reportedly fled around 4:30 a.m. and told law enforcement that the suspect planned to die in a shootout with police in a “blaze of glory.”

It is unknown if the girl knew the suspect.

Sirildo Muñoz told 3NEWS that he lives in the house where the suspect barricaded himself.

He said he heard his dogs barking early in the morning and went outside to see what was going on.

It was then that he heard his rear sliding door slam and realized he had been locked in his house for 30 years. Munoz is safe.

He spoke to 3NEWS on Tuesday afternoon:

Munoz’s neighbors said they saw police chasing the suspect and saw the man run across the field to his home.

Rivera said the San Patricio Tactical Response Team was called in as the suspect was reportedly armed, as well as three different DPS SWAT teams and negotiators, but the man stopped communicating with officials.

Around 4:00 p.m., Rivera said SWAT entered through a window and used three to four stun grenades as they entered the house. That’s when the suspect was found dead inside.

Rivera said that this man previously served a prison sentence and that the man was a member of a gang.

3NEWS multidisciplinary journalist Michael Gibson and chief photographer Preston West contributed to the story.