Suspect arrested after standoff near Mesquite ISD school

Mesquite Police have arrested a suspect they say shot at officers early Monday morning.

It's unclear whether the officer was shot at, fired at someone else, or both.

They say an employee at a fast food restaurant across Galloway Avenue from Poteet High School called them at about 3:50 to report someone with a knife threatening workers.

Police say the suspect had left by the time they arrived but called the restaurant and said he was at a house near the school. Sergeant Curtis Phillip says officers found the suspect on Poteet Drive, just north of the school.

"He did have a long gun," Phillip says. "Shots were exchanged between the suspect and our officers. Two officers fired. Neither officer was struck. The suspect was not struck, either."

Phillip says the suspect then hid inside a house on Southwynd Street in a neighborhood across Poteet Drive from the school. Police treated the case as a barricaded person, and he was arrested about 9 a.m.

No one was injured, but because of the stand-off, classes at Poteet were delayed until 10 a.m.

"The threat is obviously taken into custody, so there's not necessarily anything we're too concerned about at this time, but just to keep parents comfortable, yes, there will be an increased presence of officers in the area," Phillip says.

Phillip says Mesquite Police had a history at the house. He says the suspect, whose name had not been released Monday morning, would likely be charged with aggravated assault of a police officer and may face additional charges for his threats at the fast food restaurant.

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