Suspect shoots himself in police standoff

A SWAT standoff between police and a sex offender at a southwest Houston apartment complex yesterday ended when police forced their way into an apartment and found the suspect dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. It all started around 1 p.m. when police followed Michael Lightning, 43, through the gates of the Victoria Condos near Gessner and Beltway 8 intending to arrest him in connection with a June 1994 sexual assault (Lightning allegedly didn't register as a sex offender even though he was convicted and served jail time for the crime). Officers signaled Lightning to stop; when he got out of his car, he pointed a pistol at the cops and then at himself. Lightning then ran into a relative's apartment.

The relative escaped from the apartment and the SWAT team was called in. SWAT officers tried to coax Lightning out of the apartment, but had no response. At 6:45 p.m., they entered the apartment and found Lightning dead — but the SWAT team had never heard a shot, leading police to speculate that Lightning shot himself before the team arrived.

During the standoff, students at nearby Gross Elementary who live at the complex were held in the school's cafeteria; none of the kids was hurt. "I'm very concerned," Cynthia Morris, whose son is a fifth grader at Gross, told the Chronicle. "We never have anything like this. It's always quiet."