Update

UPDATED 4 p.m. SATURDAY, FEB. 1: In a bizarre twist, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office now says they found the body of a dead man in a Crest Circle Drive house yesterday evening following a five-hour standoff.

The deceased man is identified as Kevin Ray Rodriguez, 20, of Buda, who was pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace Margie Hernandez, according to a statement issued this afternoon. The statement does not say who shot the man, but says the incident “resulted in the homeowner firing a weapon in the residence.”

Sgt. Phillip Taylor, the sheriff’s spokesperson, led reporters at the scene to believe that officers found no one inside the home, saying the scene was secure and the incident was being treated as a burglary investigation. Multiple news organizations, including the San Marcos Mercury and the San Marcos Daily Record, reported Friday evening and this morning that SWAT found no one inside the house following the standoff.

It was not immediately clear why Taylor was evasive about the man’s death. This is a developing story…

Earlier

9:31 p.m. JAN. 31: Scores of law enforcement officers swarmed the South Ridge Estates neighborhood southeast of San Marcos on Friday afternoon after a homeowner told police that he thought intruders were barricaded in his house.

After five hours spent attempting to convince the alleged burglars to surrender, however, officers led by Hays County SWAT entered the house at about 7:30 p.m. and found no one inside.

Investigators are not yet prepared to say if the homeowner was mistaken about the intruders or if they escaped during the six minutes that lapsed between the initial emergency phone call and the first officer’s arrival, Hays County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Phillip Taylor told the San Marcos Mercury at the scene. The homeowner reported the burglary at 2:27 p.m. and the first deputy arrived at 2:33 p.m., Taylor said.

Taylor said he was not sure if the homeowner told police that he saw intruders inside his home or only that he heard them.

Police from at least four local agencies poured into the area, cordoning off streets and besieging the house in the 800 block of Crest Circle Drive. At one point, more than 40 cops inundated the neighborhood with officers from the San Marcos Police Department, Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office and New Braunfels Police Department joining those from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.

The Hays County Crisis Negotiation Team attempted to contact the intruders using a loudspeaker and then a closed-circuit telephone slipped inside. When that didn’t work, officers sent in a remote-controlled robot equipped with cameras to look for signs of the barricaded suspects and then flooded the home with tear gas in an attempt to flush them out.

Shortly after dark, officers entered the home and searched, but found no one hiding inside.



View SWAT stand off comes up empty in a larger map

CORRECTION: This story originally said a closed-circuit telephone was thrown through a window. It was set inside through a door. Also, the house is in South Ridge Estates, not the Ridgecrest neighborhood.