WINNIE, Texas — A nearly five hour stand off ended in tragedy after a man took his own life Tuesday in Winnie.
Starting at a few minutes after 9 a.m. Tuesday Chambers County deputies were involved in a standoff at an RV in the vicinity of the schools in Winnie.
Deputies with the Chambers County Sheriff's Office were dealing with a "mentally unstable" man who had locked himself in an RV near the campuses according to Sheriff Brian Hawthorne,
The man was not a student or teacher and was not connected to the school in any way Hawthorne told 12News,
During the standoff the sheriff's office asked the East Chambers ISD campuses to go on lockdown as a precautionary measure he said.
All students and staff at the school were fine and safe on the campus and parents were urged to not come to the school according to a Facebook post by the district.
This started when a relative of Ray Austin Evans called 911 saying he was going to kill his stepfather. When the first deputy arrived on scene Tuesday morning, Evans ran inside the RV and locked himself and a woman inside.
He never came out. The woman managed to escape mid-morning. She's now at the hospital. At one point, members of the sheriff's special response team deployed gas inside the RV to try to get Evans to come out.
This was unsuccessful, so they broke down a window, and used a camera to see inside the RV to try and locate Evans.
Eventually, the camera spotted his body on the floor. Investigators aren't sure when he took his own life.
"It being a small caliber and being inside like that...I guess it wasn't loud enough to hear," said Chief Deputy John Leger.
According to Chief Leger, Evans was known to be unfriendly with law enforcement and suicidal by cop. He lived in the Texas Rice Festival RV Park with his stepfather.
It remains unclear who the woman is. She's being treated for various injuries including some she may have sustained while trying to escape.
From the East Chambers ISD...
The Chambers County Sheriff's office requested that the school institute its lockdown/lockout procedures temporarily as it handles a situation near the school. No issue is occurring at school, nor is the issue the sheriff's department is handling related to the school. Please do not come to the school. Everyone is fine and safe at the school. We will immediately announce when the Sheriff's office lifts its request for the school to be on lockdown/lockout.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
