A welfare check near UTSA turned into an hourslong standoff after a woman allegedly slashed at a firefighter and barricaded inside an apartment. Charges are pending.
SAN ANTONIO — A welfare check at an off-campus housing complex near the University of Texas at San Antonio escalated into a violent, hourslong standoff Wednesday after police say a woman armed with a knife injured a firefighter and barricaded herself inside an apartment.
Officers were called shortly before 10 a.m. to Lark San Antonio, near Loop 1604 and La Cantera, after management reported they had been unable to contact a 30-year-old female tenant for several days.
The complex serves as off-campus housing for UTSA students and is located about half a mile from campus.
Concerned for the tenant’s safety, management requested a welfare check.
“This individual resided at the location previously, but the apartment was supposed to be vacant at the end of March,” said Officer Emily Garvin, a public information officer with the San Antonio Police Department.
When officers and firefighters attempted to enter the apartment, the situation escalated.
“As they were attempting to breach the door, the suspect came out … began to swing a knife and did strike one of our San Antonio Fire Department firefighters,” Garvin said.
The firefighter suffered a cut to the hand and was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Officials said the injury was minor.
Police said the woman then retreated to a back room, prompting a SWAT response and leading officers to secure part of the building. Access to the third floor was temporarily restricted as crews worked the scene.
Authorities said they had previously responded to calls at the same apartment involving the woman, who has been arrested before.
The standoff lasted nearly five hours before officers took the woman into custody around 2:30 p.m. without further incident. Police said she was alone inside. Charges were pending as of Wednesday night.
During the response, students living at the complex were unable to access parts of the building. UTSA’s campus shuttle, known as The Runner, was prevented from dropping off passengers as the area remained blocked.
Coby Gass, a UTSA student who has lived at Lark San Antonio for two years, said he left his apartment to find a heavy police presence surrounding the complex.
“I thought, ‘OK, there’s something serious going on. There’s not gonna be seven cop cars just for no reason,’” Gass said.
He said students were left searching for answers.
“Everybody’s talking about this … ‘Do you know what’s going on?’” Gass said.
When he waited for The Runner to bring him back to his apartment from campus, he said that stop was temporarily unavailable.
“Anybody going to Lark? … ‘Nope, can’t go to Lark… they have the entire area blocked off,’” Gass said, recalling a conversation with a bus driver.
Gass said Wednesday’s scene also brought back memories of a deadly incident at the complex just months earlier, when he says a person died after falling from a parking garage.
“That affected me very deeply,” he said.
Apartment management kept residents updated throughout the standoff, sending emails describing the woman as being “in distress.” Authorities said it remains unclear whether the situation involved a mental health emergency.