SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police are continuing their search for a man who they believed was holed up inside a Southeast Side home Friday morning, which led to a standoff involving SWAT officers that lasted more than seven hours.
Officer Carlos Ortiz, a police spokesman, said police went to the home, on South New Braunfels near East Southcross, around 2 a.m. while conducting an investigation into a robbery Thursday night of a Cash American Pawn shop in the 6800 block of West Military.
Ortiz said police received a tip that the getaway car involved in the crime was at the home.
"Officers, when they got to this location, made a few traffic stops because some people of interest; possible suspects in this case were seen leaving," he said. "Officers made the stops and detained several people."
Three were taken away in handcuffs.
SWAT team negotiators spent the next several hours giving commands over a loudspeaker for the people in the house to come out peacefully.
"Open the door slowly and come out," they said, repeatedly. "No one has to get hurt."
A few hours later, a shirtless man walked out and surrendered. He was placed into the back seat of a patrol car.
Police, meanwhile, believe a fifth person was still inside the home.
SWAT eventually deployed tear gas into the home. The cloud of tear gas billowed toward neighborhood residents and news crews covering the standoff, leaving them with watery eyes, runny noses and a burning sensation in their throats.
"They shot about 15 canisters of tear gas, not knowing that it was going to blow this way," said Rudy Rodriguez, who got a whiff of the tear gas. "It kind of chokes you a little bit. Your eyes just completely get watery, itchy, burning. You want to scratch but you don't want to scratch. I say it's kind of a feeling like jumping into the ocean and keeping your eyes open."
Around 9:30 a.m., Chief William McManus made the announcement the standoff was over.
"SWAT went in. They gave us the all-clear. There's no one inside," he said.
But police didn't walk away empty-handed.
McManus said they found some items inside the home that they believe are evidence from the robbery.
"There were cash, jewelry and weapons stolen, and we believe we may be recovering at least some of those weapons," McManus said.
During the standoff, police shut down a stretch of South New Braunfels Avenue, causing some minor inconveniences for motorists during the morning rush hour.
McManus said officers did the right thing in not rushing toward a conclusion.
"Our MO (modus operandi), our philosophy on SWAT situations, is that unless there are exigent circumstances that require us to go in, we're going to wait it out," McManus said.