14:35:00
Harris County Sheriff spokesman
Thomas Gilliland told
CBS affiliate KHOU-TVthat deputies were called to a home in the 2200
block of Falling Oaks Road about 9 p.m. Saturday for a routine welfare check.
He said after no one answered the door, deputies subsequently received
information indicating that a man inside the home was wanted on an aggravated
assault warrant.
Gilliland said while waiting for a
High Risk Operations Unit, deputies spotted the body of a juvenile through a
window. Four deputies forced themselves inside, prompting the 48-year-old
suspect to begin shooting.
Deputies pulled back, and the man
surrendered about an hour later.
The relationship between the
suspect and victims wasn't immediately known.
"At this time we have what
appears to be five children and three adults," Gilliland said earlier
Sunday. "Ages and genders we do not have, and cause of death we do not
have. The medical examiner will have to determine a cause of death."
The Houston sheriff's spokesman
said the unusual and grisly nature of the crime has led to concern about the
well being of the department's deputies.
"It's a hard job being a
patrolman in this town, and our deputies do a yeoman's job every day, but when
they're forced to see some of the most horrific things along this nature,
especially of children, and someone so callous could do something like this to
children -- we have our family assistance coming out to talk to our deputies
and help them decompress," said Gilliland.
Alan Cartagena, 19, said he was
attending a barbecue at a home a couple houses away. About 11 p.m., he said,
deputies started going around the neighborhood knocking on doors. "Cops
were walking around with their handguns out, telling people to remain in their
houses. They were also telling them to evacuate. It was extremely scary,"
he said. Cartagena said he heard one gunshot but wasn't sure if there were
more.
Neighbor Dalila Mercado says when
she arrived home Saturday night officers had already blocked off the area. She
said she was sitting in her driveway when she heard gunshots coming from the
house and officials then told her and her family to go inside their home.
Mercado said she could still see from her bedroom window and watched as a man
was escorted out of the house after midnight. She said officials then had him
next to her fence, taking fingerprints and photographs. "It was shocking.
I haven't slept all night," she said.
Mercado says she didn't know the
residents of the house well, but would occasionally say hello to a woman and
see children waiting to catch the school bus.
She said she didn't recognize the
man taken out of the house.
