A 28 hour standoff in rural northwest Bexar County near Grey Forest ended last night with the male suspect hospitalized and an elderly woman dead, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Sheriff Javier Salazar says it was not the ending he had hoped for, but it could have been a lot worse.
"We did find several tanks of gas throughout the house that we believe had been pre positioned to make them explode at the time police entered the residence," he said.
The woman had suffered 'blunt force trauma,' but the actual cause of her death will be determined by the medical examiner. She is believed to have been the mother of the suspect, who is hospitalized for non life threatening wounds. Salazar didn't say how the man was injured. His name was also not immediately released.
It all started Tuesday evening when deputies arrived to make a welfare check on the woman, and also to serve him with a 'mental health warrant' to compel treatment.
But the man repeatedly opened fire on officers, slightly wounding two deputies. He also shot at Texas Rangers and State Troopers who came in to assist with the incident, and even shot at a robot that was sent into the home.
Salazar says during the standoff, a drone was deployed over the home to get a better view of the situation.
But he says the man refused to surrender peacefully.
"At one point even expressing a ready willingness to exchange gunfire with our BCSO SWAT team, but also at one point, he appeared to be trying to blow them up and blow any occupants of the house up by shooting at some tanks of gas that were at the residence," Salazar said.