SAN ANTONIO — A man who police said set a car on fire barricaded himself inside a home is dead following an hours-long standoff with law enforcement.
First responders were first called out to the 3400 block of Stonehaven Drive just before 10 a.m.Wednesday for a vehicle fire, but police said the man suspected of setting the car ablaze barricaded himself inside a nearby home, prompting SWAT officers and negotiators to be called to the scene. Police said the man was believed to be armed.
Around noon, law enforcement could be heard calling for the man to exit the home with his hands up, saying that they did not intend on hurting the man. Shortly after the pleas to exit the home, smoke and fire could be seen coming from the roof. The San Antonio Fire Department was seen putting the fire out under the cover of law enforcement vehicles.
Once the fire was extinguished, SWAT made entry into the home, where they found the man dead. His cause of death was unknown.
Richard Mendez lives near where the standoff unfolded. He said a feud between neighbors preceded the car fire and standoff.
“The two neighbors had been feuding and it escalated to what you see now,” Mendez said. “It seems like the air condition unit was taken off the side of the house and the car — they set the car on fire. As to who did it, we don’t know. But it has escalated to this point right now."
Mendez told KENS 5 he mistook the car fire for a trash fire.
“It finally caught full blaze and the fire department put it out,” Mendez said. “More and more police cars started showing up to what you see now.”