After a long standoff, police nab ... nobody

The story of a SWAT standoff at a southwest Harris County home yesterday morning was a pretty big deal — a family that was held captive but escaped, two armed suspects, lots of cops — but when police finally entered the house, they found no suspects inside at all.

The situation began around 4 a.m. Tuesday, when a neighbor called police to report suspicious activity at the house in the 6400 block of Modesto. One man was sitting outside the house in a Toyota sedan and reportedly made a couple of runs to ATMs to withdraw money from the homeowner's accounts; two other men apparently forced the five people who lived in the house into a back bedroom. Deputies patrolling the neighborhood arrested the guy in the car, and while they were doing so, the two guys inside the house came out and started shooting. No one was injured in the shootout.

The family managed to climb out a window and escape, and when police entered the house around 10 a.m., they found no one inside: "Apparently the suspects managed to get out before the perimeter was set up," Lt. John Martin told KPRC. The man arrested in the car gave police the full name of one of his accomplices and the first name of the other; the men could be charged with aggravated robbery, and those who shot at the cops could face charges of attempted capital murder of a police officer.