After attempting to negotiate with a wanted man who had barricaded himself inside a duplex on Brownsville’s east side, the Brownsville Police Department’s SWAT team took a “counter measure” to get the man out.
That counter measure was deploying CS gas inside the residence.
The Brownsville Police Department SWAT team was called to a home at 3:45 p.m. located at the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and San Miguel where a man, later identified as Scott Franks, 37, had barricaded himself inside, according to police Monday.
The U.S. Marshals were attempting to serve a warrant Monday afternoon and the man refused to come outside, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.
Franks was wanted for violation of probation and immigrant and drug smuggling charges.
“The U.S. Marshals were here to serve a warrant on an individual and apparently the individual had weapons inside the house and barricaded himself,” Sandoval said. “Once we arrived, we initiated our SWAT team due to the nature of the individual and his tendencies that might harm people.”
The department also had its negotiators at the scene who talked to the barricaded man trying to get him to surrender.
“Our negotiators were actually talking to the individual for approximately two hours until there was no leeway, this was a subject that was not going to come out peacefully,” Sandoval said.
At about 5:50 p.m. the SWAT team took counter measure deploying “CS gas” through a duplex window, which causes a person to become disoriented, Sandoval said. “They went in, they were able to take him into custody without any injury to him or injury to any of the officers.”
Once the man was taken into custody, he was checked out by EMS personnel and then handed over to U.S. Marshals.
It was unknown if any weapons had been found inside the residence.
None of the residents in the neighborhood had to be evacuated, authorities said.
Video posted to social media shows members of the SWAT team outside of the residence with weapons drawn.
