Sean Brown
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas- It was just another afternoon day of target practice for 25-year-old Ramon Hooks until an off-duty DHS agent spotted him with his air rifle then called sheriffs and declared him an ‘active shooter’ and causing the SWAT to engage his home as well as a couple of local schools being placed on lockdown.
The active-duty soldier likes to go out into his back yard in the afternoon and shoot at a makeshift target with his air rifle, just as many kids in the neighborhood do, and has never had a problem with it in the past. However on that day there was an off-duty DHS agent in a nearby home that is under construction and he spotted Hooks with what the agent called a ‘telescopically high powered rifle,’ the agent then called the local sheriff and told them there was an ‘active shooter’ on the scene.
“An “active shooter” call dropped,” said Captain Jay Coons with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
What happens next is enough to boggle anybody’s mind, a SWAT team with an armored vehicle was sent to his home, complete with a 5 man team who was heavily armed, dozens of police vehicles showed up to the scene, and two local schools were placed on lockdown. A new helicopter buzzed overhead and caught the whole incident on film, as you see above. Police approached this man’s house as if he were a terrorist, putting his and his family’s lives in danger over a simple misunderstanding.
The action caused neighbors to buzz with rumors of what was going on.
‘What the people are saying is it’s someone with an AK 47… in the bushes hiding, randomly just sniping,’ said Teresa Moran, who lives nearby.
Eickenroht and Hoyland elementary schools were put in lockdown while the scene unfolded as well.
The agent claimed that a pellet from Hooks’ rifle penetrated the window nearby and when he look out that’s when he saw Hooks with his rifle, however Hooks tells a different story. He said that he had spoken with the agent while he was out searching for his dog and that he had set his rifle on the porch of his home.
Hooks was taken into custody and charged with criminal mischief although he’s more worried about the trouble he’s going to be in at home.
“He is in the dog house for a long, long time. He sure is,” his wife Dionne said even though she believes that authorities far over reacted to the situation. “I’m being honest: You can tell a pellet gun when you look at a pellet gun,” she said.
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