A man was arrested after he sat in his vehicle with a gun following a crash into a traffic barrier in a standoff that shut down a portion of Loop 375 in El Paso, authorities said.
El Paso police officers responded to a crash about 10:45 a.m. Monday, June 8, on Loop 375, named the Purple Heart Memorial Highway, close to Spur 601, also known as the Liberty Expressway, El Paso Police Department spokeswoman Detective Judy Oviedo said at a news conference.
The officers saw a driver, whose name has not been released, sitting alone in his vehicle with a weapon, prompting a standoff and a larger police response, Oviedo said.
The man suffered from a canine bite before taken into custody, but no further information was released by Oviedo. The man was taken into custody and to a hospital for medical treatment, Oviedo said.
Police reopened the highway to traffic by about 2:15 p.m. after the incident caused massive traffic delays for hours as police responded.
A portion of Loop 375 outside of eastern Fort Bliss was shut down. A Texas Department of Transportation highway camera showed traffic on Loop 375 blocked off near an overpass that crosses the freeway near Sergeant Major Boulevard, north of the Spur 601 intersection. The area along the sides of the highway is mostly desert.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Loop 375 shut down near Fort Bliss due to a person with a gun
Reporting by Daniel Borunda and Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daniel Borunda and Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
