HOUSTON, TX– Don’t perform target practice on your own property unless you’re prepared for an escalated response from your friendly neighborhood SWAT team.

In north Texas’ Harris County, reports of a “possible sniper” put two nearby schools on lockdown and sent dozens of police vehicles and an armored truck to Darbydale Crossing, where several homes are under construction.

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A news chopper swirled overhead as deputies approached the house with riot shields and their guns drawn. Neighbor Teresa Moran stated that, “people are saying is it’s someone with an AK 47… in the bushes hiding, randomly just sniping.”

As you can expect, this was an over-hyped response by someone who works in a department known for doing exactly that.

An Iraqi war veteran was shooting a pellet gun for target practice, and accidentally fired into one of the homes under construction, shattering a window. An off-duty Homeland Security agent was examining the home for sale when the glass shattered right next to him. When he saw the soldier with the pellet gun, he called the sheriff thinking that he was holding a “telescopically high-powered rifle.”

When 25-year-old Ramon Hooks was taken into custody by the police, the lockdown placed on the two elementary schools were lifted. His wife Dionne thinks that authorities overreacted.

“I’m being honest: You can tell a pellet gun when you look at a pellet gun,” she said.

Captain Jay Coons disagreed, saying, “If you look at this thing, it is very convincing.”

Ramon Hooks, an active-duty soldier, now faces criminal mischief charges.









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