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Brandon Michael Watts

Age : 36

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 09/07/2021

Location : Siegel Select Tucson, 4800 block of South Butterfield Drive

City : Tucson

County : Pima

State : Arizona

Agency : Tucson Police Department; Pima County Regional SWAT Team

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Suicide

Event : Suicide under police duress

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/07/2021, 36-year-old Brandon Michael Watts died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long police standoff and hostage situation at the Siegel Select Tucson hotel. Police alleged Watts had earlier shot and killed his girlfriend, 39-year-old Flor Del Mar Hernandez Tapia, and wounded a 19-year-old woman before leaving the shooting scene.
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Tucson police were called shortly before 2 a.m. to a residence in the 3700 block of East 23rd Street for a reported domestic dispute. Officers found Hernandez Tapia dead from gunshot wounds and the 19-year-old woman wounded. The surviving woman was transported to Banner-University Medical Center and was expected to survive. Police identified Watts as the person suspected of both shootings.
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Police records showed that Watts had been arrested on domestic-violence charges in January 2021 and arrested again for assault in March. He was scheduled to enter pleas in those cases the week following the September shootings.
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Police said Watts left the East 23rd Street residence and went to the Siegel Select Tucson hotel near East Irvington Road and South Hotel Drive. There, police alleged, he entered a room occupied by a woman and her four children and held the family hostage.
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The Tucson Police Department Hostage Negotiations Unit and Pima County Regional SWAT Team surrounded the room and spent hours attempting to negotiate with Watts. The standoff lasted much of the day. Negotiators eventually secured the release of the woman and all four children. The children were physically unharmed; the woman was treated for injuries.
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After the hostages were safely removed, Watts remained barricaded alone inside the hotel room. At approximately 5:40 p.m., SWAT personnel entered and found him dead from what police reported was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No police gunfire was reported in Watts' death.
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The sequence from the initial domestic shooting call shortly before 2 a.m. through the SWAT entry at approximately 5:40 p.m. made this an extended police operation lasting much of September 7. Watts died while surrounded by police during an active attempt to apprehend him.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Tucson Police Department negotiators and Pima County Regional SWAT personnel involved in the hostage standoff have not been publicly identified.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.kold.com/2021/09/07/update-man-dies-self-inflicted-gunshot-after-hours-long-standoff-police-say/
https://patch.com/arizona/tucson/suspect-tucson-hostage-situation-shootings-dead
https://www.crainandsons.com/obituary/brandon-watts
https://www.kold.com/2021/09/09/stand-off-that-started-with-domestic-dispute-sheds-light-rising-domestic-violence/