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North Odessa Standoff Ends in Suicide

Rattled nerves in a North Odessa neighborhood when a man with a gun refused to come out of his home.
By Abby Reed
NewsWest 9

ODESSA - Rattled nerves in a North Odessa neighborhood when a man with a gun refused to come out of his home.

Deputies were trying to serve a warrant for a parole violation on Thursday afternoon, but when they pulled up to the home in the 6900 block of Kermit, the man they were looking for, spotted the deputies, and then ran into his home.  Deputies say they believe he was carrying a weapon, maybe a handgun, so they refused to take any chances, and that's when they called in for backup.

When deputies pulled up to the home, they had with them a blue warrant, which is for a felony parole violation.

"And they saw the suspect they were looking for in the yard.  He saw them, and he ran into the residence and the officers believed that he had a weapon," Sgt. Gary Duesler with the Ector County Sheriff's Department, said.

State Troopers, U.S. Marshals, and the SWAT team assisted the Sheriff's Department in setting up a perimeter around the area to ensure the safety of nearby neighbors.

"If a guy's got a blue warrant for a parole violation, until we get a history on the guy, you don't know what he's liable to do. He may, just not care, but I care, I want to go home, and so do these officers, and we don't want anybody else getting hurt out here," Duesler said.

Just before 5 PM, deputies tear gassed the home.

"And upon entry, they did find one male, that looked like he had a self inflicted gun shot wound," Duesler said.

Deputies don't want to release the name of the suspect until they notify all of his family.  In the meantime, the location is a crime scene, as investigators try to figure out why the suspect felt suicide was his only option.

"We never want anybody hurt in this situation, but, self inflicted, they choose that, we don't," Duesler said.

The location of the home, was just a few blocks west of Ratliff Stadium on Yukon.  It was also, right across the street from an alternative school.  ECISD officials tell NewsWest 9, they did implement shelter in place for the school, and students and faculty were let out early.  As for school buses, they ran as scheduled.

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