Standoff in Texas: SWAT command leader dead, 4 wounded after standoff with gunman

A SWAT commander leader is dead and four other officers wounded after an hourslong police standoff with a gunman Thursday in a small West Texas city, officials said. Authorities say the suspect was captured just before midnight in Levelland, about 30 miles west of Lubbock.

The standoff between the suspect and law enforcement had begun at the home around 1 p.m. after someone reported a man as possibly armed along the residential street. The confrontation escalated quickly, gunfire erupted as the suspect barricaded himself inside a house, and a standoff ensued. Three of the wounded officers were taken to a Lubbock hospital. Sgt. Josh Bartlett of the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office was taken to Covenant Health Levelland hospital and died of his wounds, according to a sheriff's office statement. Bartlett was the commander of the sheriff's tactical unit.