Loose cobra terrifies residents at downtown luxury lofts

The Rice lofts resident Ethan Shear snapped this picture when he saw what residents believed to be a cobra wandering the 3rd floor hallway of the luxury downtown living tower. Officials with the complex would not say if they knew where the snake came from. less The Rice lofts resident Ethan Shear snapped this picture when he saw what residents believed to be a cobra wandering the 3rd floor hallway of the luxury downtown living tower. Officials with the complex would ... more Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close Loose cobra terrifies residents at downtown luxury lofts 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

Colby Lewis went to pick up a package Saturday at the concierge desk of The Rice luxury downtown apartments, where he lives in Houston, when a visibly distraught man rushed up looking for help.

"He said, look, we've got to call the police, we've got to do something," Lewis said.

The man announced that a cobra was loose on the third floor.

"We were like, you must be high, man, you must be tripping," Lewis said. But he followed the man to have a look.

He'd seen enough Indiana Jones movies, he said, to recognize what he saw as he turned a corner in the third floor hallway. It was a cobra.

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The residents were nervous, especially since another deadly Texas cobra made national headlines this month. In Austin, a 19-year-old man was found dead in his car with fang marks on his wrist. The deadly monocle cobra he was known to be carrying was gone, and the jar in which it dwelt was open. That put police on a days-long cobra hunt until the snake was finally found dead.

RELATED: Police still seek cobra believed to have bitten, killed man

Lewis recalled that story instantly when he realized another cobra was loose, he said.

Eventually a small crowd formed around the snake, giving it a wide berth. Ethan Shear was walking from his 13th floor apartment to his car in the 3rd floor garage, listening to NPR on earbuds. He didn't immediately notice the commotion.

"I just had my headphones in and some guy screamed, 'watch out!' and I looked and there was just a cobra there," he said. "I just screamed and jumped and ran away and hid behind a wall."

He shot a picture on his phone. Lewis took some video in which a group of bystanders can be heard discussing the snake.

RELATED: North Texas family may flee ranch after venomous copperhead snake invasion

Spokespeople for the Rice Lofts declined to comment. Multiple inquiries to the complex's corporate owner, Greystar, yielded no reply Monday. A front desk clerk's reference to "the snake incident" was the loft's only confirmation that a cobra might have been in the premises.

It remains unclear where the snake came from. Lewis and Shear said they were not informed by building staff about the origin of the deadly snake.

Residents reported that animal control authorities were soon on the scene to bag up the snake and take it away.

In other Lone Star snake news, a north Texas family last week announced they were poised to flee their home after dozens of copperhead snakes invaded the property.