Two suspects arrested after hours-long standoff near downtown San Antonio hotel

Law enforcement personnel arrest Jennifer Tran, who is blocked by the officers in this picture, after she and Steven Brown barricaded themselves in a room after the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force tried to serve an arrest warrant this morning at the Travelodge at Interstate 35 and South Laredo Street. Tran was wanted on a robbery charge, and Brown was wanted on an aggravated robbery charge. Tran was removed from within the roof structure after she and Brown escaped their room through the ceiling. less Law enforcement personnel arrest Jennifer Tran, who is blocked by the officers in this picture, after she and Steven Brown barricaded themselves in a room after the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force tried to serve ... more Photo: Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News Photo: Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Two suspects arrested after hours-long standoff near downtown San Antonio hotel 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

The suspects in an hours long standoff were arrested Wednesday evening after they attempted to escape through the ceiling of a downtown motel.

San Antonio Police Department spokesman officer Carlos Ortiz said Jennifer Tran and Steven Brown, both in their 30s, were arrested by a SWAT team at about 7:30 p.m. in the Travelodge in the 1100 block of South Laredo.

The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force tried to serve an arrest warrant on Jennifer Tran, wanted on a robbery charge, and Steven Brown, wanted an aggravated robbery charge, when they barricaded the door with a mattress and refused to come out.

While officers had the motel surrounded, Tran and Brown had gained access to the ceiling and were moving into different rooms.

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At about 5:30 p.m., the two lit a fire in a separate room as a diversion, Ortiz said. The San Antonio Fire Department was called to the scene and the fire was quickly extinguished, police said.

Near the end of the standoff, officers used tear gas and forced Brown out of the attic, police said.

Ortiz said SWAT officers cornered Tran into the attic at the motel’s carport, and that they had to make a hole in the ceiling to apprehend her.

No one was injured in the incident, Ortiz said.

The access ramp onto Interstate 35 North at South Alamo Street was closed during the standoff. Hotel guests were allowed to return to their rooms after the standoff.

Brown's mother, Fay Beard, had been waiting for her son to come out of the motel since the standoff began.

"I'm hoping he comes out safely so this can be over and done with," she said. "I'm just worrying about the outcome."

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Beard described her son as troubled.

"He's a good kid, he just made some bad choices."

Beard talked to him on the phone at one point during the standoff and pleaded with him to turn himself in.

"I love you. Boy, come on out," she said when asked what her message to Brown would be. "You got your kids out here. We need you."

It was unclear whether the suspects were armed, but Ortiz said the warrants being served were considered "high risk."

Ortiz said that Brown had eluded officers in two prior attempts to arrest him. In one incident, he drove the wrong way on the highway to evade his pursuers.

Investigators kept much of the motel and roads closed for about two hours after the standoff as they collected evidence from the room where the two were barricaded.

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Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA