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By DALE LEZON HOUSTON CHRONICLE
March 25, 2010, 8:40AM
An armed 84-year-old man held SWAT officers at bay in a home in southwest Houston this morning for nearly six hours before his arrest around 7 a.m.
The standoff began around 1 a.m. after the homeowner, Gerald Lancaster, fired a shot during an argument with his wife, who fled the home in the 10100 block of Amblewood and called police, authorities said. Lancaster, in an interview from the backseat of a police cruiser, said he had been drinking but his wife had not.
After failing to coax Lancaster out with phone calls and pleas over a loudspeaker, police fired tear gas into the home around 5:30 a.m. but said the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Marine veteran -- who said he owns enough guns to "take down the whole ------- army if I wanted to" -- withstood it and did not relent.
Finally, police observed through a bedroom window that the man was alert and unarmed, so they breached the home and apprehended him without a struggle. No injuries were reported, and Lancaster is charged with aggravated assault.
He later said he slept though much of the standoff.
Lancaster, who said he was a sergeant in Marine aviation during World War II and is a retired energy industry engineer, said he was surprised to see police converge on his home after the dispute with his wife.
When asked how long he's been married, Lancaster told reporters: "Too damn long."
dale.lezon@chron.com
March 25, 2010, 8:40AM
An armed 84-year-old man held SWAT officers at bay in a home in southwest Houston this morning for nearly six hours before his arrest around 7 a.m.
The standoff began around 1 a.m. after the homeowner, Gerald Lancaster, fired a shot during an argument with his wife, who fled the home in the 10100 block of Amblewood and called police, authorities said. Lancaster, in an interview from the backseat of a police cruiser, said he had been drinking but his wife had not.
After failing to coax Lancaster out with phone calls and pleas over a loudspeaker, police fired tear gas into the home around 5:30 a.m. but said the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Marine veteran -- who said he owns enough guns to "take down the whole ------- army if I wanted to" -- withstood it and did not relent.
Finally, police observed through a bedroom window that the man was alert and unarmed, so they breached the home and apprehended him without a struggle. No injuries were reported, and Lancaster is charged with aggravated assault.
He later said he slept though much of the standoff.
Lancaster, who said he was a sergeant in Marine aviation during World War II and is a retired energy industry engineer, said he was surprised to see police converge on his home after the dispute with his wife.
When asked how long he's been married, Lancaster told reporters: "Too damn long."
dale.lezon@chron.com
