SWAT searches Harris County Criminal Courts building after reported incident

SWAT teams searched the Harris County Criminal Justice Center floor by floor on Thursday after authorities were called to a person acting erratically inside the downtown Houston courthouse complex.

Law enforcement located the person after the response, and officials described the incident as tied to a mental health episode. The building at 1201 Franklin Street is one of the county’s most important public facilities, housing the Harris County Criminal Courts at Law on floors 8 through 11 and handling a heavy daily flow of defendants, attorneys, jurors and court staff.

The courthouse interruption quickly raised questions about safety inside a building that anchors criminal justice operations across Harris County. The Harris County Criminal Courts include both district courts, which hear felony cases, and county criminal courts at law, which handle Class A and B misdemeanors and appeals from justice and municipal courts. Any lockdown or security sweep there can ripple through hearings scheduled throughout downtown Houston.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which says it is the largest sheriff’s office in Texas and the third-largest in the nation, was among the agencies involved in the response. The building sits in the heart of downtown, where courthouse traffic, public access and law enforcement activity converge throughout the day.

Thursday’s incident was the latest in a series of security disruptions at the county courthouse complex. On Nov. 26, 2024, a small fire in a jury room forced the evacuation of three floors, the 17th, 18th and 19th, in the same building. In April 2025, a downtown shooting near the courthouse complex prompted tighter security screening the next day, underscoring how exposed the courthouse district can be to nearby violence and sudden emergencies.

For Harris County, the latest episode showed how fast a routine day in court can shift into a building-wide security response. It also highlighted the strain placed on a courthouse that serves as both a public access point and a critical hub for the county’s criminal justice system.