Woman Freed as Police Standoff Ends in Man's Suicide

Published January 07, 2015

A standoff in Texas between police with a school officer accused of kidnapping his estranged girlfriend ended Wednesday night with the suspect committing suicide and the woman making it to safety, MyFOXHouston.com reported.

Julio Reyes, 38, reportedly had taken Rachel Hillsman, 24, in front of her two young children Tuesday morning. The couple are both officers with the Katy school district, west of Houston.

Reyes had been holed up with Hillsman in a vacant house as police tried to negotiate the woman's release. At one point, Reyes fired one shot at officers as they looked through a broken window in the vacant home.

"Troopers did not return fire because they were concerned about hitting Hillsman," Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said, according to a Houston Chronicle report.

The two-story house where Hillsman was held is located 200 yards from her home in Brookshire.

Smith says Hillsman and her two children stayed at her mother's home Monday after Reyes threatened her during an argument that night, MyFOXHouston.com reported.

Investigators said he was waiting for her at the bottom of the driveway the next morning. Their 7-year-old daughter told police her parents engaged in a physical altercation before Reyes took Hillman away, the TV station reported.

Sheriff Smith told the station Reyes also made some purchases before the abduction that imply that it was premeditated, he but would not reveal details on those items.

Click here to read more on this story from MyFOXHouston.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/woman-freed-as-police-standoff-ends-in-mans-suicide