An early morning standoff along a public street in Beaumont ended in the death of a man who, police say, fired at them after negotiations failed.
The Beaumont Police Department had not released the man’s name as of Thursday evening.
A welfare call regarding a person believed to be suicidal came in at 4:54 a.m, and minutes later traffic at the intersection of College Street and Dowlen Road was being diverted, according to video taken by a Beaumont man passing by on his way to work.
“Beaumont police were trying to talk to (a) gentleman, asking him to put down what I assumed was a gun,” Mark Storey, who took the video, told The Enterprise. “After about five minutes, BPD started directing us to turn around and go back over the overpass.”
In the video, which was viewed by The Enterprise, officers can be heard telling a man to “put it down,” as he holds what appears to be a gun to his head while sitting in the grass near the intersection.
“Put it down, you don’t have to do this,” one officer yelled. “No one is going to hurt you. Put the gun down, man.”
The nearly-5 minute video ended as more officers arrived, and some aimed guns toward the man. Authorities continued to address the man by a first name, asking him to lower the gun.
A SWAT team was called to the scene, the department said in a written release, and the man began firing shots at about 7:30 a.m.
Beaumont police did not respond to multiple requests for comment asking whether a mental health officer was on the scene.
The department contracts with the Spindletop Center for mental health services, but representatives for the organization told The Enterprise they were not called in regards to this incident, and could not comment as it is an ongoing investigation.
Police attempted to de-escalate the situation for several hours, spokeswoman Haley Morrow said in a news release.
“However, the suspect would not comply,” Morrow said in the release.
Morrow said the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene, and no one else was injured.
Spindletop has developed relationships with many Southeast Texas law enforcement agencies through the Assistance, Stabilization and Prevention program started in 2014.
“We decided we were going to try to take a proactive approach on mental health and the judicial system,” said Thomas Smith, a crisis prevention specialist with Spindletop. “We currently have officers in two-man units, one officer and one qualified mental health professional, who respond to mental health crises and also do follow-ups with people to make sure that they have all the help they need to get over the barriers and get the treatment they need.”
They assist the Beaumont and Port Arthur police departments, as well as other law enforcement agencies in Jefferson, Orange, Hardin and Chambers counties.
Smith said calls commonly come from people asking for assistance with a family member.
“We also get referrals from other police officers, from hospitals — just anywhere someone may be in danger to themselves or others,” Smith said. “Then we go out and follow up on them and see what we can do to help.”
The goal of the program is to intervene early in a crisis.
“What happens is when people first start going into crisis, a lot of times it can be helped by a crisis counselor,” Smith said. “Maybe without going into the hospital, or being put in jail, or hurting anybody or hurting themselves. This is the way we catch them early, before they go into crisis. Then we are able to divert the crisis.”
