GCSO ARREST 1 AFTER STANDOFF

SAVOY - For the second time in as many months, Grayson County deputies were
involved in a standoff. Unlike an earlier incident, they didn't fire back
at the suspect who fired at them.

Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary said a team of law enforcement officers
went to the Savoy home about 4 p.m. Tuesday with an arrest and search
warrant for Edward Joe Marquez Jr., who lived just inside Savoy city
limits. Either going with Grayson County SO narcotics officers or called
later to help were U.S. marshals, Drug Enforcement Agency agents, Texas
Ranger Tony Bennie, a Department of Public Safety Auto Theft trooper,
Fannin County deputies, including Chief Deputy Donnie Foster, and Savoy police.

Gary said the warrant was the no-knock kind and they went in. Meeting them
were three pit bull dogs, one of which lunged at a deputy who first tried
to knock him back, then used his gun. The shot wounded the dog, but not
fatally, said Gary. They put those and several other dogs in separate rooms.

Deputies took a man inside into custody, but later released him.

Marquez ran out the back door where he "encountered a Fannin County
deputy," said Gary. They wrestled briefly and Marquez ran back into house.
Several law enforcement officers saw him pick up a pistol, which they later
found to be a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

Marquez barricaded himself in an office room, piling its furniture against
the door. The stand-off was on. Deputies were inside the house, down the
hall from where Marquez barricaded himself in, and others, including the
Special Response Team and assisting agencies, outside.

During the next two hours, deputies ordered him time and again to give
himself up, but he stayed behind the barred door. Gary said the man's his
wife and some of his adult-age children came to the scene and were kept
back. Deputies learned that there were chemicals in the room in which
Marquez was holding up.

Grayson County deputies fired tear gas shells into the office room. Still,
Marquez refused to come out. Instead, he opened fire on the officers. One
shot struck a Grayson County SO patrol car and another struck a tree, said
Gary. In all, Gary believes Marquez fired four or five shots.

At that point, three negotiators were called in, two from Grayson County SO
and the third was the DPS trooper. Gary explained that often a holed-up
suspect will respond more to one trained negotiator's voice or method than
others, so it's a good idea to have several available to talk to the
suspect. In this case, Gary said, it was a Grayson County negotiator who
was finally able to talk Marquez out.

Those talks were through the barricaded door, which was hollow-core and
allowed voices to easily carry through it.

Finally, about 9:45 p.m., a subdued Marquez surrendered himself. Gary said
he gave statements to Bennie and a DEA agent, then was taken to Grayson
County Jail on outstanding warrants. All of those are failures to appear on
previous charges, including robbery, felony possession of controlled
substance, prohibited weapon, and unlawfully carrying a weapon, plus
several Sherman city ordinance violations such as having a dog at large.

Deputies searched the house and grounds on which there was a barn and other
out-buildings, said Gary. The warrant they carried with them was obtained
through Judge Lauri Blake because of information they'd received regarding
an operating methamphetamine lab on the property. Gary said they found a
lab, but it wasn't active at the time.

They also found 40 guns, ranging from small caliber pistols to high-powered
rifles, reported Gary. Wednesday afternoon, ATF agents were at the Grayson
County Sheriff's Office checking all the serial numbers against databases
of lost and stolen items. No report of the results was available.

Gary expects that new charges against Marquez will be filed in Fannin
County and could include aggravated assault against a public servant,
relating to the gunshots fired from inside to outside the house.

Gary said it's legal and a prerogative that officers have to shoot back
when shot at, but, he said, "Our officers showed great restraint."

On Feb. 3, Deputy Donald Bowling fired back at a fleeing suspect following
an inter-county pursuit that ceased when the suspect ran over spikes laid
in the roadway by another agency. Bowling's shot put the suspect in the
hospital, where he remained for 28 days.

"Fortunately," said the sheriff, "it's been years since we've been in this
type of situation. But, all officers understand when they come to work,
this type of thing can come around. In this drug-crazed world we live in
today, you just don't know."