Burglar faces additional charges after standoff with police

A 34-year-old man, already wanted on several felony warrants, faces additional charges after a five hour long standoff with police officers ended peacefully Saturday morning.

Lamesa Police Department (LPD) officers had been looking for Marty Guerrero, wanted on burglary, theft of property and unauthorized use of a vehicle charges, when they received a call at 5:31 a.m. about someone trying to break into a home.

Guerrero was seen running into a house in the 700 block of N. 6th Street. Officers from Lamesa and Midland surrounded the home. He refused to come out until around 10 a.m. when he walked outside with his hands up and surrendered to police.

Guerrero now faces additional new charges. He was booked on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant, multiple burglary warrants, felon in possession of a firearm and for a parole warrant from Austin.

“He was wanted on parole out of Austin,” said LPD Police Chief Josh Peterson. “So he has been to prison, several times apparently. Otherwise parole wouldn’t want him if he hadn’t been to prison. I don’t know how many times he’s been in prison.”

As standard protocol once in custody, he was transported by EMS ambulance to Medical Arts Hospital to get medically cleared before being transported to the county jail. He complained about leg pain. He was found to be in good health.

“We got him cleared medically and we took him to jail,” Peterson said. “I had an officer ride with him in an ambulance since he was in custody.”

He remains in the county jail. It is unsure if Guerrero was living in the house or burglarizing it.

“We’re not exactly sure if he was staying there or not. We kind of think he was, but we can’t confirm it,” Peterson said.

The standoff between Guerrero and officers from two agencies began when someone reported a man was breaking into his home.

Police surrounded the residence. Guerrero barricaded himself inside the house.

“We were called into the area because he was trying to get into a house in that area, in that block and he ran into that house,” said Peterson.

LPD officers were assisted by the Midland Police Department’s SWAT team. Officers also brought along a drone and a police robot during the standoff.

The scenario didn’t end until after offi cers deployed non-lethal chemical agents into the home, broke down a side door and broke several windows. Guerrero then walked out of the house with his hands up.

“With that situation and with him having shot at us (five days prior), we called for assistance from Midland PD (Police Department) SWAT. They came down with their full complement with a team. They helped us out. They used chemical agents, gas that they launched in to the residence and then they just continued to talk to him, and then he finally gave up,” Peterson said.

“They did break down the door so they could have a direct line of sight into the house. Then they launched gas into the door and the side windows of the residence.”

The standoff made it onto the Lubbock television news and was broadcast in real time on social media by a bystander. The incident brought out neighbors who watched from the sidelines or from behind the screen doors of their homes.

LPD officers had been searching for Guerrero days after he broke into another home Nov. 14 and fired three shots at responding officers, who did not return fire.

LPD received a call about a suspicious vehicle and signs of a break-in in Nov. 14 in a vacant home in the 1500 block of S. Ave N.

When officers arrived at the home around 2:20 p.m., they found evidence of someone forcibly entering the home. When they confronted Guerrero, he produced a handgun and fired upon them. He escaped through a window.

No one was hurt in the exchange. Guerrero didn’t take any property from the home. The vehicle found at the residence was determined to have been stolen.

His picture made it on the front page of the newspaper, warning the public that he was considered armed and dangerous. It was also posted on the police department’s Facebook page in an attempt to solicit tips from the public about his whereabouts.