UPDATE: KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – A suspected jewelry thief on the run from Texas authorities killed himself in a West Knoxville hotel parking lot as police tried to take him into custody.

Knoxville police confirm they received a tip that Timothy Allen Liess, 44 was staying at the Extended StayAmerica on Winston Road in the West Hills community on Monday. Officers located his car in the parking lot and decided keep it under surveillance.

Liess was finally spotted just before midnight as he walked out of the hotel toward his vehicle. Three officers approached him and ordered him to get down on his knees, but as they did, he removed a handgun from his pocked and committed suicide.

Police officials said they had been warned by Texas authorities that Liess had vowed not to go back to jail.

Police in Austin, Texas had been searching for Liess since October 27th. According to a media release, the Austin Police Department had issued a number of felony theft warrants for his arrest. The warrants were related to an ongoing jewelry crime spree in which he would rob stores and pawn the stolen items at shops across the southeast or on Craigslist.com. In one case he was thought to have stolen an $8,000 diamond from an Austin jeweler.

Knoxville police confirmed he was wanted in Knox County for writing a worthless check.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Authorities are investigating a suicide in West Knoxville.

It happened just before 12:00 a.m. in the parking lot of the Extended Stay America on Winston Road in West Hills.

Reports from the scene indicate police were approaching a man to question him when he opened the hood on a vehicle. As they approached he apparently pulled out a gun and killed himself.

Knoxville Police haven’t said much about the incident. It is unclear what they wanted to talk to the man about, if he was from the area or why he would have killed himself.

Stay with Volunteer TV News and VolunteerTV.com for the latest on this developing story.