Suspicious delivery sparks one of Sweetwater’s strangest calls, police recall hostage rescue

SWEETWATER, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – “This is really the epitome of law enforcement life.”

A series of unusual events unfolded in Sweetwater, Texas, last week when a delivery driver noticed a suspicious order. Witnesses reported items such as trash bags, zip ties, bleach, a hatchet, and more. Sweetwater Interim Police Chief Cory Stroman shared his recount and perspective on the incident.

On Monday, September 22, Stroman said the department received what initially sounded like a routine call to a motel, but the events that followed were far from ordinary.

“It was kind of a hybrid of a welfare check/eviction situation, turned into, obviously, much larger than that,” Stroman recalled. “There was a delivery service that popped up, and one of the drivers kind of waved the red flag to hotel management and said that this was a delivery that was requested that I didn’t fulfill, because it was odd and it was a unique situation, and so hotel management decided it was necessary to alert law enforcement, and everything just started rolling from there.”

When officers arrived at Neil Cooper’s motel room, police say he refused to exit. A hostage was also found inside.

Stroman shared that while the police department has not released what was ordered, he said there were many red flags in the order. Witnesses report that there were items like trash bags, zip ties, bleach, a hatchet, and more, but this has not been confirmed by law enforcement.

Within 10 minutes, what started as a low-probability welfare check escalated into a hostage situation.

“I think the initial call was in the area of 11:30 a.m., and by 11:40 I was notified that we had a hostage/standoff situation… So it was a very quick progression that went from routine to next level,” Stroman said.

Officers also knew Cooper had a felony warrant in Scurry County. When they attempted contact, Stroman said threats were made, and a firearm was claimed to be present.

“As the call progressed, it became apparent no shots were ever fired, but it was confirmed there was a firearm in the room, and a threat was made against the individual in the room, basically saying, creating them as a hostage, or purporting them as a hostage,” Stroman explained.

Stroman said the hostage situation resulted from timing and circumstance.

“There was a heavy law enforcement presence… At that point, any opportunity apparently was seized, and one of the individuals who was in the room as a bystander then became a hostage and was being held with threats against their safety, against the officer’s safety, and against the individual with the weapons,” Stroman shared. “So it went from an attempt to make contact and try to peaceably serve a warrant to a situation where they were barricaded in the room and a hostage had been taken at that point with a threat against their life.”

The hostage was quickly rescued and arrested for an outstanding warrant for Manufacture/Delivery of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1 out of Snyder, as well as Failure to Identify.

“That’s one of those very unfortunate things in law enforcement… You’re hereby commanded to take this person into custody. There’s not a lot of discretion given to peace officers when it comes to arrest warrants, particularly felony arrest warrants, which is what the hostage had,” Stroman said. “He was very calm, very agreeable. We didn’t have any issues with him resisting. I think he understood he had a warrant, and at that point, he was willing to surrender into custody, as opposed to staying in the situation that he was in, so you never want to arrest a hostage, but that’s the order that was given by a judge.”

Stroman reflected on the unpredictability of law enforcement and praised his team’s response.

“I was working on some paperwork, and my phone rang, and it was, hey, we have a hostage/barricaded subject. It was out of the blue. So here we go,” Stroman recalled. “One of the greatest honors in my job is getting to wave the flag for how well our officers respond to incidents. This was no exception. From our patrol division, our Criminal Investigations Division, our Narcotics Division, everybody converged one after another, and then we had DPS right behind us that showed up, and we established a unified command with them, and it went as smoothly as it possibly could have. It was just a quick snap of a finger, and we went from knocking on a door to trying to make sure nobody’s getting shot.”

The Nolan County Sheriff’s Office assisted by covering other calls.

“A call like this overwhelms your resources quickly, and so patrol division is here, our specialized units are here, but we still have a population of 10-11,000 people all over town that are needing police services,” Stroman explained. “So the sheriff’s office was contacted. They agreed to help cover our calls. DPS, we didn’t even have to request them. They heard the traffic, and they came to our assistance. Very quickly, they came up, asked for what was needed, and helped plug the holes that we had going on.”

Stroman said Cooper was not a Sweetwater resident and was unknown to local law enforcement.

“I think this was our agency’s first encounter with him, but I do know, I believe his warrants stemmed from a larger-scale narcotics investigation in another jurisdiction that had just wrapped up. They issued those warrants, and of course, he was, I think, maybe lying low in Sweetwater, trying to avoid detection,” Stroman said.

He emphasized the importance of reporting suspicious activity.

“If it doesn’t feel right, if it doesn’t seem right, don’t be afraid to ask those questions. I think delivery services also have a portal that drivers can reach out to to get guidance from the higher-ups in their companies and services,” Stroman shared. “But also, it never hurts to call the police and say this is my concern, or this is what’s going on. Always something like that is a good idea. In this case, it was just merely mentioning it to someone else who was able to take that data, mix it with data that they had, and say, Okay, we now have a problem.”

In the end, Stroman called the outcome a victory for the Sweetwater Police Department and the community.

“I celebrate that our community is not known for hostages and barricaded subjects, so I love that this is newsworthy, because that tells me it’s not normal for us,” Stroman shared. “We’re going to take it as a victory, especially the fact that the bad guy, the hostage, and all of our officers, everybody went home safely.”