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Houston Police Department officials have yet to respond to ABC News' request for comment about Elliott's allegations of a double cross.

“The tiger does not belong to Mr. Cuevas. It absolutely does not,\" Elliott said.

\"PHOTO:
Maria Torres
PHOTO: An off-duty police officer points his weapon as the apparent owner retrieves a Bengal tiger that had gotten out and was roaming the West Houston neighborhood May 9, 2021.
>

During a news conference on Monday, Houston Police Commander Ron Borza said Cuevas was previously arrested in July 2020 and charged with murder stemming from a 2017 fatal shooting outside a sushi restaurant in Fort Bend County, Texas. He said Cuevas was free on $250,000 bail.

HPD Commander Borza provides update on scene of where a tiger was found yesterday at Ivy Wall https://t.co/zPO6ESJ2E3

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 10, 2021

Neighbors of Cuevas began calling 911 about 8 p.m. Sunday, reporting that a Bengal tiger wearing a collar was freely roaming around their neighborhood.

An off-duty Waller County, Texas, sheriff's deputy responded to the scene after getting an alert on a Nextdoor app.

Video taken by a witness showed a man exiting a house on Ivy Wall Drive and pleading with the deputy not to shoot the tiger. The footage then showed the man grabbing the tiger by its collar and escorting it back into the home. Elliott confirmed the man was Cuevas.

Borza alleged that Cuevas put the tiger in his Jeep Cherokee and drove off as Houston police officers were arriving at the scene. He said a brief pursuit ensued, but Cuevas managed to get away.

Prior to his arrest, Cuevas was charged with felony evading police.

Elliott declined to say why the tiger was at Cuevas' home if he is not the owner of the animal.

\"You saw the video where he’s familiar with the tiger and knows how to handle a tiger but that doesn’t mean the tiger is his,\" Elliott said. \"It doesn’t mean that he’s the one who took the tiger away from the house. And it doesn’t mean that he knows anything now, except for who the individual is who has the tiger and or the whereabouts of the tiger.\"

He cited video showing at least one other person standing in the doorway of Cuevas' home at the time of the incident.

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