MFPD negotiates, defuses armed situation Wednesday

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Marble Falls Police Department (MFPD) throughout the afternoon Wednesday, May 25, successfully intervened in a potentially dangerous situation with a resident armed with a rifle the Pecan Valley neighborhood.

According to Capt. Glen Hanson, public information officer, a call was received by the MFPD reporting a man with a gun in the 1100 block of Mulberry Drive.

“Officers responded and made contact with the caller who told them his neighbor was claiming there were people in his house,” read a release from Hanson.

When the caller had gone to his neighbor’s aid, he found no one in the home but the neighbor, who was hallucinating and holding a gun.

An MFPD negotiator eventually was able to talk the man into coming out of the house and surrendering the weapon.

Taken into custody at 6:04 p.m. was 53-year-old Timothy Clark Cooper.

“This was the fourth call of a similar nature this month,” said Hanson. “He believes he is seeing things, becomes frightened and he will pick up a gun.

“Typically, he has stayed in his house or yard but, in the course of this event, we were able to establish he had left the home with a gun in February. He can legally possess weapons in his home, but he may not possess them off premises.

Hanson said the man was cleared after medical evaluation at a Bell County hospital and today, Thursday, May 26, was taken into custody by Temple police, ultimately to be booked into the Burnet County jail on charges of a felon in possession of a firearm, brandishing of a firearm and possession of marijuana. The charges of brandishing of a firearm and possession of marijuana stem from warrants issued after a previous incident, according to Hanson.

Some neighbors had been allowed to return to their homes during the stand off but they were confined there until the home was cleared for safety, after 6:45 p.m.

“One of the awesome things about this profession is that we come to one another's aid,” said Hanson. “We appreciate all the units from surrounding cities that responded to aid us.”

Mulberry Street in southwest Marble Falls intersects with Pecan Valley Drive about three blocks before Pecan Valley Park on Lake Marble Falls.