Standoff at Comfort Suites Causes Strife in San Angelo Sunday Morning

At 9:07 a.m. Sunday morning, officers were dispatched to Comfort Suites in the 4200 block of Houston Harte Frontage Expressway for a shots fired call,” said Sgt. Cade Solsbery with the San Angelo Police Department.

Initially, Sgt. Solsbery said the desk clerk at the hotel said she heard shots fired, and when officers arrived, they were informed there was a bullet hole in the door of Room 108. At that point, police and hotel officials started to evacuate guests at the hotel. At that point, staff didn’t know how many people were in the hotel room. They also didn’t know if there were any injuries inside the room; however, no one in the surrounding rooms sustained injuries. Also, bullets were recovered at the scene.

Immediately after evacuation, SAPD set up a perimeter and the San Angelo S.W.A.T and Crisis Negotiation teams were called out.

Sgt. Solsbery stated that while the officers were holding the perimeter in the hallway, they could hear the suspect talking inside the room, so they tried to make contact with him by phone.

“[The suspect] has been identified as Mateo Flores, a 47-year-old Hispanic male,” Sgt. Solsbery added.

For a few moments, officials talked to Flores, and after a short time, the man came out of the room and surrendered peacefully. Currently, he’s looking at a charge of deadly conduct for firing off rounds inside the hotel room.

“We’re still early on in the investigation. There could be further charges coming,“ Solsbery noted.

Apparently, the incident ensued after Flores, who works in the oil field, got into an argument with some of his coworkers. He didn’t want to go to work, and “it kind of spun out from there.” Police are looking for some of those coworkers now to find out what took place.

“He’ll be arraigned tomorrow, and won’t have a bond set until morning,” Solsbery said. As of now, SAPD only know Flores used a handgun in the shooting, but officers don’t know the caliber as of yet.

The manager at Comfort Suites said SAPD officials did an outstanding job ensuring the safety of guests and staff during the incident.