On Good Friday, Tanks And SWAT Teams Descended on a Sleepy Colleyville Neighborhood

So, it’s Good Friday. Your mind is on jelly beans, Easter eggs, and new shoes.

The kids all have the day off school — not just any school, but an exemplary school as deemed by the state and the uber-active PTA of soccer moms and golfing dads. You’re having a third cup of coffee in your suburban home and thinking about who has the right ensemble for Easter brunch with the in-laws. It’s nice to enjoy your lovely home on a block of green lawns, blooming posies, swimming pools, and swing sets.

Serene. Peaceful. The American Dream. That’s how many people who live in Colleyville would describe the suburb.

A Car Chase That Ends in Colleyville

Then your husband hollers “Get the kids in the bedroom! Make them stay there! Get back from the windows!”

Why? Oh, just a robbery suspect who has made his way from Dallas through Bedford and onto Brentwood Court, a quiet street in the Tarrant County suburb of Colleyville. At around 10:30 a.m. on Good Friday, Dallas police asked for help from Bedford police in apprehending said suspect who wouldn’t stop. The suspect ended up in the street of a neighborhood more accustomed to bicycles and pizza deliveries than police cars, SWAT teams, and the FBI.

One neighbor, working from home, noticed a commotion in the street. She texted a neighbor, asking “Why is there SWAT on our street?”

While a police negotiator tried to reason with the man to prevent gunshots from pinging through the neighborhood, the suburban doorbell camera shots were pinging through the Internet. From one neighbor to the next, the neighbors tried to piece together what was going on in their own front yards.

Feds in The Bushes, Tanks in The Streets

The Tarrant County suburb began to resemble military combat. One working mom got a text at work telling her that six FBI investigators were in her bushes.

“I’m watching on my Ring doorbell as these tanks are driving by,” said a mom who was at work and grateful her children were not at home that day. “At first it was alarming to see men with assault rifles in bullet-proof vests on. A while later, men are walking by with helmets. There’s no way to prepare yourself for that.”

SWAT teams, fire trucks, drone operators, and a K-9 officer descended on the street for hours. Three armored tanks rolled onto the street. Flashing lights, camo-covered officers and drawn guns changed the day’s atmosphere to crisis mode.

While the homeowners were shaky, the law enforcement officers remained composed and professional.

“For a really out-of-control situation, the police were as in control as they could have at that moment,” said one homeowner. “They seemed calm, and they kept everyone safe. If they were scared, they didn’t show it. Risking their lives like that, they more than earned their money that day. We’re grateful.”

The End of a Standoff in Quiet Colleyville

The standoff lasted hours. Since access to the neighborhood was blocked, one concerned dad couldn’t drive home so he parked on nearby Colleyville Boulevard and walked home. Families would peek around curtains. Police officers used homeowners’ bathrooms. A teenager took photos from a roof.

“Everyone was texting each other,” one neighbor said. “We didn’t really know what was going on.”

After hours of negotiations, the suspect eventually stood outside his car. Trapped in a cul-de-sac with no way out, he turned the gun on himself. The ambulance, which had been there for a chunk of the day took him, critically wounded, to a hospital.

By 8 p.m. the last official’s car departed. The next day the sun was out, and all was quiet again, like a crisis had never happened.

“It was unbelievable,” a homeowner said. “I think one of the weirdest things is how quiet and normal our street seems after that day unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”