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An armed woman sat in a lawn chair in the middle of a busy Texas highway on Thursday, sparking an hours-long standoff with law enforcement that caused traffic to stand still before she eventually surrendered.
Harris County Constable Precinct 4 deputies responded Thursday afternoon to a report of an armed woman who was involved in a crash involving an 18-wheeler on I-45 South in Spring, Texas. The woman and the driver of the truck were unharmed in the incident.
After the collision, the woman exited her vehicle with a chair and sat down in the middle of the highway. The constable’s office said the woman, who was armed with a handgun, was refusing to drop the weapon.
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An armed woman sat in a lawn chair in the middle of a busy Texas highway. (Harris County Constable Precinct 4)
“She persistently kept it to her face, her throat, her head, therefore making it very difficult for us to approach her and take the gun away,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference, according to Fox 26.
The sheriff said she was expressing suicidal thoughts.
“It was a very delicate situation throughout the whole ordeal,” he said. “She has some mental illnesses that she’s dealing with so there’s no rationality as far as what’s taken place. There is some history of psychosis, so that’s to be determined.”
Traffic was shut down in both directions during the five-hour standoff. (Harris County Constable Precinct 4)
Traffic was shut down in both directions during the five-hour standoff, backing up traffic as law enforcement attempted to negotiate with the woman.
Crisis Intervention Response Team members responded to the scene, and her daughter arrived as well.
“We allowed her to speak to her daughter to let her know her daughter was safe,” Gonzalez said, adding that the woman was “in-and-out” of sorts during the mental health crisis.
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Crisis Intervention Response Team members responded to the scene, as did the woman’s daughter. (Harris County Constable Precinct 4)
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“That was something that kept her here with us from doing something foolish. Once she realized her daughter was here, she was safe, she was going to be allowed to see her again, it got better at that point,” the sheriff said.
The woman eventually surrendered and was taken into custody before being transported to a hospital for evaluation.