Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

The Brownsville man who barricaded himself inside his home last night was evaluated and committed into the Rio Grande State Center.

Twenty two year old Antonio Rodriguez was evaluated by Cameron County Sheriff's Deputies Wednesday morning, and subsequently transported to the Harlingen mental health facility.

However, once he is released he will be booked into the county jail on an outstanding warrant for possession of marijuana charges.

Meanwhile Cameron County Sheriff’s Office Deputies told Action 4 News they are content with the way the barricade situation played out Tuesday night.

"We went in and we were able to take him out with out any major incident,” Chief Deputy Guy Reyna said.

Rodriguez barricaded himself inside his Brownsville home on the 3100 block of Zinnia Street for more than three hours.

The situation ended when deputies barged inside the home using liquid gas, but Chief Reyna said this was a rather unique circumstance.

"This is the first time that we initiate our SWAT team members to conduct business with a mental health warrant," he said.

According to Reyna, the county has served many similar warrants to suspected mental health patients, but this was the first time that it escalated into a stand off.

Only after getting clearance from the district attorney, were SWAT teams able to move in.

"I think the officers conducted themselves very, very professionally. They followed protocol," he said.

This was the third similar incident in 14 months.

In November of 2008, Brownsville Police shot and killed Ricardo Moreno. Recently officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Just last week, Sheriff’s Deputies in Willacy County shot and killed Roy Almanza, who the family claimed had a bipolar disorder. That investigation is ongoing.

Given these past incidents, Chief Reyna told Action 4 News they had officers on hand that constantly deal with mental health patients.

"They make contact with the patient and they initiate the contact with him," he said.

Reyna added that if similar incidents occur in the future,, they will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Sources close to the case also told Action 4 News Tuesdays stand off could have been avoided.

They said Brownsville Police had been called to the same home a week before for a reported hostage situation involving Rodriguez, but no action was taken.