An armed man barricaded himself in a townhome Monday morning and fired a gun into his neighbor's wall, Fort Worth police say.
Fort Worth police negotiators and SWAT units responded to the Ridglea Townhomes located at 3817 Birkdale Drive in Fort Worth, where the situation took place.
Police evacuated the residences adjacent to the one where the 27-year-old man was barricaded inside.
During NBC 5's 4:30 a.m. newscast, NBC 5's Jeff Smith heard what sounded like gunshots during his live report from the scene. Police confirmed later that a SWAT team fired multiple cans of gas into the townhome, causing the loud bangs.
At 5:11 a.m., Fort Worth police tweeted out confirmation that the man was in custody after having surrendered peacefully.
Barricaded subject in west FW is in custody. — Fort Worth Police (@fortworthpd) February 3, 2014
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According to police at the scene, the man initially called police himself reporting burglars or prowlers were inside his townhome. Police said the man then fired multiple gunshots in the residence and some of those bullets went through the wall into a neighboring apartment.
"The police officers on scene could not get in contact with the suspect, so we called in the SWAT team. We called in a trained police negotiator. We tried for several hours to reach him but we could not get him on the phone or to come outside," police said.
"This is just a situation where we couldn't leave until we had taken control and taken him into custody," said Capt. Scott Conn, with the Fort Worth Police Department.
Officers said the man has a history of mental illness and they responded to an incident with him just last week, although he was not arrested at that time. Police haven’t yet released his name.
No one was injured in the incident.
