Cypress : The Saga of ‘Holed-Up Suspects’ Ends Quietly

Police and firefighters responding to reports of “barricaded suspects” following a minor fire Tuesday were relieved to find that the alleged outlaws were really two toddlers living nearby.

The brief flurry of excitement followed a garbage dumpster fire.

According to a Cypress police spokeswoman, the misunderstanding began when Orange County firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze in the dumpster near a carport in the 5500 block of Crescent Avenue. When firefighters knocked on a nearby door to get information about the fire, they were told no one was either talking or coming out.

Following standard procedure, firefighters called Cypress police for assistance and announced that suspects had barricaded themselves at the site of a deliberately set fire. Within an hour, Cypress police received a dozen phone calls inquiring about the “suspects,” Police Officer Suzette Young said. The initial reports were “totally bogus,” she said: The suspects turned out to be 3 and 4 years of age.

“It sounded like there was a barricaded suspect,” Orange County Fire’s Joe Kerr said. “Turned out it was a couple of kids.”