HOUSTON – SWAT and hostage negotiators were called to a southwest Houston apartment complex after police say a man barricaded himself inside a unit.
According to authorities, the man believed to be in his 60s called the crisis hotline center at the V.A. hospital around 1:45 a.m. Monday threatening to kill himself.
Officers got the report of a potentially suicidal armed man and arrived on scene to find him locked inside a unit at the Coral Hills apartment complex at Beverly Street near Unity Drive.
"At one point they could hear clicking from a revolver," said Capt. Larry Baimbridge with HPD SWAT. "He advised that he was playing, basically Russian roulette. He had made comments that if officers attempted to come up, that he would kill himself."
Out of caution, police said they evacuated neighboring units just in case the scene turned into an active shooting and bullets went through the walls.
However, negotiators were able to coax the man out of the apartment without hurting himself or anyone else, and he was taken into custody, police said.
There was no one inside the apartment with him at the time of the incident, police said.
Officers said the man is being evaluated by medical staff, and they believe he did serve in the military but the branch is unknown.