Standoff Ends As Man Drives Car Into Lake

[Pudge]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/14328660/detail.html


FORT WORTH, Texas -- A standoff in Arlington, Texas, ended tragically Friday after a man police say fatally shot his estranged wife and two stepchildren led police on a high-speed chase and then drove his car off a boat ramp.

Police said the man never made any attempt to get out of the vehicle, and the car slowly sunk into the lake. The driver, whose name had not been released, is presumed to be dead, reported Dallas-area television station KXAS-TV.

The suspect had been holed up in the car in the driveway of an Arlington home since shortly after 1:10 p.m. Friday. At about 7:30 p.m. he managed to maneuver his car around an armored personnel carrier parked in front of him, police said.

The Arlington Police Department SWAT team had been negotiating with the man for several hours. Police said they found his estranged wife and his two stepchildren, a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, in Fort Worth. The victims were found in a home located north of Lake Arlington, the lake into which the suspect drove his vehicle.

Before the standoff began, the suspect dropped off his 3-year-old daughter, who appeared to be OK, at Mayfield Road Baptist Church. The suspect said he had killed two people when he dropped off the girl, who was covered in blood, early Friday afternoon, police said.

Officials at Hale Elementary School, which is located on the other side of Mayfield Road, locked the school down.

Fort Worth police were called to the suspect's home at least twice since last month, a neighbor said.

The slayings shocked neighbors in this middle class neighborhood of one-story brick houses and well-kept lawns.

A woman who knew the family arrived at the house Friday afternoon, then began wailing and collapsed in the street after hearing of the killings. As a police officer tried to console her, she screamed: "Why did he do it? He was so happy yesterday."

Neighbors said the children often rode bicycles and walked their dog around the neighborhood. Just last week, the boy was happily playing outside and when he politely asked a neighbor for a glass of water.

"I saw them last week, and they seemed fine," said Schawan Smith, who had gotten to know the family because the 3-year-old attended a Fort Worth day car run by Smith's mother. "I'm heartbroken because my kids played with them."

The suspect is friendly and often played in the yard with his stepchildren, who called him "daddy," neighbors said.

"He was the friendliest guy around," neighbor Tommy Talbott said. "He was a happy go lucky guy. Every time I saw him, he had a smile."

Another neighbor, Paula Bledsoe, said the man bought her parents' old car and then brought it back to show her elderly mother after he fixed it up. He also frequently asked how her mother was doing.

"It's a total shock, just terrible. I was praying it wasn't the kids," she said.

[Car 4]

I am so sorry for the kids......why can't they just do themselves and spare everyone else this kind of grief. I also notice that this article has the obligatory statement from the dipshit neighbor about "What a happy guy he was" for a mass murderer/serial killer/general all around puke and scumbag (take your pick depending on the crime). It seems that a good reporter can always find someone to make the dumbest possible comment in the middle of this kind of situation.

P.S. As a scene commander, I woulda disabled the vehicle as step #1 to contain the scene.

Car 4