Seven San Antonio police officers were shot while responding to a “suicide in progress” call and the suspect was later found dead inside an apartment after a standoff, the city’s police chief said.
The officers were shot on Wednesday night and a Swat team was called to the Stone Oak neighborhood, the San Antonio police chief, Bill McManus, said early on Thursday. After several hours, the suspect was dead but it was not immediately known how he died, McManus said.
He described the suspect as a man in his 40s and said the original call to police came from a family member.
Earlier, McManus had said four officers were wounded and none of those officers’ injuries were believed to be life-threatening. In his later remarks, he did not address the specific conditions of the officers.
An NBC affiliate reported that police evacuated those residents who could be safely moved from the apartment block.
“Swat arrived on the scene and the suspect barricaded himself inside the apartment for several hours,” McManus said in a video posted to Facebook.
“At the end of the event the suspect was found to be deceased.
“We don’t know if he was shot by a self-inflicted wound or whether or not he was shot by squad officers.”
McManus added that the suspect had been arrested previously on 18 January for assault and driving while intoxicated.
Associated Press contributed reporting
• In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
