Suspect In Tucson Hostage Situation And Shootings Is Dead

TUCSON, AZ — A suspect is dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot after his girlfriend was shot and killed and a mother and her four children were held hostage in a hotel room for several hours Tuesday, police said.

Brandon Michael Watts, 36, was found dead at a hotel near the intersection of East Irvington Road and South Hotel Drive

Police suspected Watts shot and killed his girlfriend, Flor Del Mar Hernandez Tapia, 39, and shot and injured a 19-year-old woman early Tuesday morning in the 3700 block of East 23rd Street.

Police said Watts fled the scene of the shooting to the hotel where he was accused of holding a mother and four children hostage in a hotel room for several hours, Tucson police said.

Watts barricaded himself in the hotel room while the Tucson Police Hostage Negotiations Unit and the Pima County Regional SWAT Team attempted to communicate with him, police said.

They eventually negotiated the release of the mother and children, police said. The children were not harmed but the mother was treated for injuries, police said. Her condition was not known.

Watts was found dead from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound when SWAT entered the room at 5:40 p.m., police said.