HOUSTON – Police have identified the man who was arrested Wednesday after a SWAT team entered a southwest Houston apartment and found two bodies inside.
The incident started at 2:18 a.m. at an apartment complex on Arboles Drive near Chimney Rock Road after neighbors reported hearing gunshots.
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Houston police Chief Art Acevedo said when officers arrived and approached the apartment unit, they could hear loud arguing between a man and a woman. Police announced their presence and tried to get the people inside the apartment to come out, Acevedo said.
However, the man responded to the police telling them that they “don’t want to come through that door. You’re going to be killed,” Acevedo said.
According to Acevedo, another officer was able to see into the apartment and saw that the man was armed. Neighbors told police they had previously seen the man walk outside and fire a single shotgun round, which Acevedo said the shell was recovered from the area.
About an hour after the incident started, Acevedo said one of the people who was being kept inside the apartment was able to escape out of an upstairs window. The person told authorities that there were other people trapped inside with the armed suspect, who was acting irrational and not willing to come out or let the others out, Acevedo said.
Just after 5 a.m., Acevedo said a second person was able to escape. Shortly after, hostage negotiators were able to make contact with the suspect, who Acevedo said was being uncooperative.
While negotiations were happening, two others were able to escape the apartment around 7 a.m., according to Acevedo. Negotiations to get the man out of the apartment lasted several hours and he was refusing to come out, so around 8 a.m., Acevedo said the SWAT team decided to take action to get the suspect out.
They broke through a window, and around 9:20 a.m., the man was taken into custody without incident, police said.
Police said Daniel Hite, 26, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping.
When police entered the apartment following the suspect’s arrest, Acevedo said they found two Hispanic men, later identified as Amiclar and Richard Rivera, dead inside. Acevedo said police suspect drugs, a drug overdose and drug activity may have been involved. Police said no charges have been filed against Hite in connection with the two deaths, because that investigation is pending the autopsy results.
Acevedo said the investigation will be treated as a homicide investigation because police were not informed that there were two people inside who needed medical attention.
“The suspect might have kept them there without the ability to get medical attention, and subsequently we have two dead people,” Acevedo said.