Man surrenders after hours-long SWAT standoff in Monongahela sparked by shots fired at police
MONONGAHELA, Pa. (KDKA) -- A man surrendered on Thursday evening after an hours-long SWAT standoff in Monongahela that began with shots fired at police during a chase in the morning.
Authorities said Emmanuel Houghton surrendered to law enforcement and was taken into custody, ending the ordeal.
Monongahela SWAT standoff begins
Police swarmed the area of Third and Chess streets not once but twice -- briefly leaving around 2 p.m. before coming back in the afternoon, drawing their guns and telling neighbors to stay inside.
Pennsylvania State Police said it started when a car, one of two stolen overnight, drove away from local officers during a traffic stop Thursday morning. An unknown number of shots were fired at police, but no one was hit, troopers said.
Officers briefly lost sight of the vehicle but found it abandoned off Third and Chess streets. Sources said a man ran inside a stranger's home, let the two people inside go, then barricaded himself.
SWAT started clearing the scene shortly before 2 p.m. but came back a few hours later. They asked residents to stay inside as they surrounded the home, guns drawn.
Around 6 p.m., Houghton was on Facebook Live responding to SWAT. He also showed a weapon, officials said.
He requested to speak to his mother, who arrived and started talking to him through a loudspeaker, begging him to come outside. SWAT threw tear gas inside, trying to get him out.
Houghton eventually surrendered around 7:30 p.m.
Residents evacuated in Monongahela
A mom and her three kids -- ages 11, 7 and 13 -- had to evacuate earlier as police pointed guns towards their backyard.
"Mom was looking through the window as well and I was, like, kind of scared, because I feel like, like we did something bad or something," said John Escalante, one of the kids.
Police haven't said what brought them back to the area the second time, or why they cleared the scene earlier.