MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — On the outer edges of the suspect search in Midland County, it was a headache for drivers. Traffic was impacted at multiple areas where police were blocking roadways, and businesses were impacted as well.
Many questions were asked on Wednesday.
“Just confused, like, seeing police outside for no reason or just parked off crooked, just made us wonder why," said Eloy Ortiz Jr., an employee at Beyond Engineering and Testing.
Ortiz said traffic was redirected as the police presence grew.
“They didn’t move for a good minute, and then more came coming and coming and blocked off all the exits and like ‘oh wow, ok, so something’s going on in there,'" Ortiz said.
Police were west of the incident at around 12:30 p.m. near South County Rd. 1276, just east of highway 1788, redirecting traffic flow with flashing lights of police further east. Fast forward to about 1 p.m., the area on the other end had been blocked off on Industrial Ave. heading west, just past South County Rd. 1255.
Those two points marked about two miles of roadway that were closed off, leaving folks to find alternate routes to their destination.
South County Rd 1260 and West County Rd. 116 is where Ortiz was located at work.
A SWAT truck headed north on South County Rd. 1260 before the roads opened up in the area again at around 2 p.m.
Ortiz added that they were told to lock up while the situation began and was developing. There are not a ton of businesses in the field area where the search was focused, but it was a bizarre day for those businesses close by.