Overview

• Police say a delivery driver reported a suspicious order to the Sweetwater Inn around 11:30 a.m. on September 22, prompting a response to a motel room on Georgia Avenue.
• Officers encountered Neil Cooper, 42, barricaded inside and claiming to be armed, while the person initially believed to be a hostage escaped safely.
• A Texas Department of Public Safety crisis negotiator persuaded Cooper to surrender without incident.
• Cooper was jailed on an aggravated kidnapping charge and two active warrants for manufacture or delivery of controlled substances.
• The individual first described as a hostage was also arrested on a failure-to-identify charge and an outstanding drug-related warrant, and police have not confirmed reports about the order’s contents.