HOUSTON — A suspect who was holding two people hostage in a hotel room in the Jersey Village area has surrendered and the hostages are safe, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The man in his 20s was taken into custody by Houston police just before 11 a.m. following a standoff that lasted most of the morning. He was holding a man and woman at gunpoint against their will.
The male hostage was released just after 7:30 a.m. Eventually, he allowed the female suspect to drop his handgun from the window.
Police said the standoff was very tense and they even brought the suspect's parents in to talk with him. The suspect finally let the female go and surrendered.
Police say he knew his hostages but didn't say what the relationship is.
When the suspect was taken into custody, he had some self-inflicted wounds and talked about hurting himself during the standoff, police said.
He faces aggravated robbery and assault charges. SWAT team members on the scene said he also has a felony robbery parole violation out of Brazoria County.
This all started around 2:15 a.m. as an aggravated robbery call at a nearby Polar Express. Jersey Village police were able to identify the suspect based on surveillance video.
Police then made their way to the Quality Suites in the 17500 block of Highway 290 near Jones Road. That's where the suspect ran following the alleged robbery.
Police showed a still picture of the suspect to the hotel clerk, who confirmed he was staying in a room there.
Police said they tracked the suspect down to a third-floor room on the west side of the hotel. They did hear one shot go off in room as the suspect warned officers to stay away or he was going to shoot the hostages.
Officers then heard him break a window on the backside of the room. As he looked out the window, police fired one shot at him, police said.
It is not clear if he was hit. No injuries were reported.
Houston police said HPD SWAT and hostage negotiators were on the scene to assist Jersey Village police.
Video from the scene showed several guests at the hotel run from the scene. Jersey Police said they evacuated as many rooms as they could but are not sure if all of the rooms near the suspect are clear.
“They banged on the door they said, ‘maam we have a situation. You and your family need to get out.’ So that's exactly what we did. we got out,” Randee Oyieko, a hotel guest, said. “We looked and there was guns everywhere and we were like c’mon let's go.”