Woman arrested after SWAT standoff in southwest Houston

(11/01/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Police are searching for a killer after a shooting and standoff in southwest Houston. A shooting Wednesday morning was followed by a four hour standoff at an apartment complex on Keegans Ridge Road.

There is still a lot of concern about two suspects wanted for a murder. They are Billy Whiteside, 30, and Domingo Valle, 26. Police say they gunned down Brandon Dean, 21, Wednesday morning and hurt two other people.

Homicide detectives arrived at an apartment complex looking for those men while investigating that crime. Houston SWAT officers were called to the scene when police believed a man with high powered guns was holed up inside an apartment. But the standoff ended hours later when a woman in a housecoat came out.

HPD Captain Dwayne Ready said, "Homicide investigators are speaking with her. She did indicate that she fired the weapon that was heard around noon."

"It was like a 'pop,'" recalled one witness.

A woman said she was just below that second-floor apartment when the shot was fired.

She said, "All of a sudden we heard the gunshots coming from his apartment."

That witness and other residents described the shooter as a man. When police arrived, the officers tried to communicate with the suspect. But the person went back into the apartment.

"When the officers arrived and they saw somebody retreat, and they made an order for them to come out and they did not, they don't then risk their safety or anybody else's," explained Captain Ready. "That's what we call SWAT for. They have the training."

Another reason for caution -- homicide detectives believed the standoff may be connected to a deadly shooting from earlier in the morning. They believe one of the suspects responsible for the murder lives in the apartment SWAT officers surrounded. They haven't determined if that suspect was at the apartment when the standoff began.

Police did a full search of the apartment after the woman came out. They didn't find anyone else inside.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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