AUSTIN -- A SWAT standoff in Northwest Austin has come to an end.
The Austin police SWAT team took Shaw Hamilton, 51, into custody at 7:25 a.m.
The team negotiated with Hamilton for four and a half hours. Hamilton, whose identity police are not confirming pending a mental health evaluation, threatened to commit suicide.
Police say he barricaded himself inside his home on the 6800 block of Thorncliffe Drive near Far West Boulevard. APD Corporal Anthony Hipolito says Hamilton was armed with several handguns and a high-powered weapon.
Police initially responded to the house around 1:15 a.m. Monday.
"[Officers] were able to establish phone contact with some occupants of the residence. They were told that there was a subject inside that was armed with handguns and another type of weapon," said Cpl. Hipolito. "He would not come out to the officers who were on the scene."
Cpl. Hipolito says Hamilton wouldn't turn himself in; instead he demanded the SWAT team.
SWAT arrived around 3 a.m. Police immediately evacuated neighbors. Cpl. Hipolito says another male in the house evacuated safely as well.
"I was already falling asleep and then the cops just started ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door," said Enrique Garcia. "The whole block was basically evacuated."
SWAT members made contact with Hamilton in the house and fired several distraction devices and gas canisters into the home.
Evacuated neighbors waited anxiously outside a gas station nearby.
"They told us that he had an AK-47 and was threatening to shoot," neighbor Nancy Fiske told KVUE. "I'm glad they evacuated us. An AK-47; walls are thin. We're scared."
SWAT officers eventually made entry into the house as negotiators distracted Hamilton in another part of the home. He is now in custody and will undergo a mental health evaluation, according to Cpl. Hipolito.
"We don't know exactly what's going on with him or why he's distraught," said Cpl Hipolito.
Police barricaded immediate access to the house, closing off Hart Lane at North Hills Drive and the block of Thorncliffe Drive in front of the house.
Cpl. Hipolito says Hamilton is facing charges. He's being investigated for a possible aggravated assault family violence charge. Officers are questioning him, as well as witnesses and the victim. Police identified the victim as the other male in the house. His relation to Hamilton has not been released.
