SAN JACINTO COUNTY, Texas – A burglary suspect who barricaded himself inside a San Jacinto County mobile home was taken into custody after a hours-long standoff.
The man is also being investigated for possible ties to a house fire and missing person report out of Polk County.
The Polk County Sheriff said at about 9 a.m. Thursday morning, they were able to track the suspect’s vehicle to the Holiday Villages of Livingston subdivision and sat for several hours waiting for him to come out on his own. But when that didn’t happen, they tried to get him out. That didn’t happen and an hours-long standoff began.
“All I heard was “you’re surrounded, come out with your hands up,” and I was like uhhh, that’s not for me,” said neighbor Stephanie Vincent.
Instead, the commands being shouted over a loud speaker amid a sea of law enforcement, including the SWAT team, were for Tyler Williams.
“It was negotiations still and he was passing letters back and forth to the police department,” said neighbor Anthony Marksberry.
For more than six hours, Williams wouldn’t budge.
“To be honest with you, we’re from Houston so we’re kind of used to this, but this is like a first,” said Donna Marksberry.
Williams was originally labeled as a murder suspect by the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. Following hours of barricading himself inside what was said to be a friend’s mobile home, Williams surrendered peacefully around 5:30 p.m. When the scene calmed down, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons updated the details.
“Basically what we’re investigating, something that started out on Saturday morning which would’ve been the 23rd I believe, was a house fire that was reported to us, from that house fire a missing person report,” Lyons said.
Lyons believes Williams burglarized the home in Onalaska. Williams is also being investigated for possible ties to the arson and missing person who Lyons said lives in the home that was burglarized and intentionally burned.
As far as the missing person report, the Polk County Sheriff wants to reassure the family that they are doing everything they can to locate them.
As for Williams, he’s been taken back to Polk County to face charges.