SAN ANTONIO – A Northwest Side apartment complex became the center of a standoff overnight involving San Antonio police officers and two men who they believed were holed up with rifles inside a home.
Officers surrounded the Auburn Creek Apartments, in the 4400 block of Gardendale, around 3 a.m. Friday with guns drawn, ready to do battle.
They were responding to reports that a pair of robbery suspects had run into an apartment and were refusing to come out.
Just prior to that, police had received a call about a home invasion nearby, in the 9000 block of Wurzbach Road.
The description of the gunmen in that case appeared to match one given after an earlier robbery at a home on Bandera Road, during which shots were fired.
A sergeant at the scene said officers who were searching the area noticed two men who matched the general description of the robbers and attempted to stop them.
The men ran into a unit at Auburn Creek Apartments, and for more than two hours, refused to come out, police said.
"(I heard) them saying, 'Get out! Put your hands on top of your head!'" said Salma Aziz, who lives across the street. "I got out with a towel around my body and I just looked, and I was, like, 'Oh my God!"
Aziz said she immediately became concerned because dozens of children who live in the apartment complex.
Aziz said she tried to walk outside for a better view of what was happening, but an officer stopped her.
"And he said, 'There are a lot of people with guns and stuff.' And I was, like, 'Guns?'," Aziz said.
In addition to shouting commands over a loudspeaker, police contacted a relative of one of the men and had her get in touch with them by cellphone.
Shortly before 6 a.m., the men walked out of the apartment peacefully, police said.
According to the sergeant, at that time officers determined the men had outstanding warrants and did not have weapons.
He said they found no evidence that the pair was linked to the overnight robberies.
Police are still trying to find out who was behind those violent crimes.