An 11-year-old boy playing a common prank game of ringing doorbells in Houston, Texas, was shot dead on Saturday as he ran away from a house.
Authorities said the boy was struck several times as he and some friends were buzzing doorbells in an Eastside neighborhood.
The Houston police department have not released the identity of the boy or the occupant of the home, but said a middle-aged man has been arrested and several weapons were later recovered from the home.
Police said the boy had been playing “ding-dong ditch”, which involves ringing on the doorbell of a home and running away. A witness saw the boy ring a doorbell and flee the property before he was struck by gunfire.
“A witness stated the male was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound,” police said in a police statement.
Neighbors later told KPCR 2 that a man was seen being led in handcuffs out of a police vehicle and walking him to the home where the shooting happened.
Houston homicide detective Michael Cass told CBS News affiliate KHOU that a witness had recalled someone exiting the house that was pranked and “shooting at the kids running down the street”.
“Unfortunately, sadly enough, one of the boys, who was 11 years old, was shot in the back,” Cass said.
The game has led to deaths before. In 2023, a California man was found guilty of murder for intentionally ramming the car of six teens who buzzed his doorbell, killing three.
In May, a man in Virginia was charged with second-degree murder after he shot and killed a teenager who had filmed a TikTok video playing the doorbell game on the man’s home at 3am, according to local police reports.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Friday all conversations about potential hires with local law enforcement agencies, legislators and leaders led him to new Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz.
“They kept saying Noe Diaz is the real deal—a crime fighter,” Whitmire noted at the press conference he called. “That is what I am looking for — a no-nonsense crimefighter with experience.”
Whitmire emphasized the key attributes he searched for in potential candidates: familiarity with Houston and employment outside the Houston Police Department.
Whitmire said he thought it was important “at this period in time,” apparently referencing the shelved cases scandal, to look outside the agency. However, he confirmed that initially, the search included internal candidates.
According to Whitmire, Diaz’s “working knowledge” of every community’s needs and decades-long experience collaborating with multiple Houston area law enforcement agencies made him the right choice.
Diaz most recently led the Katy Police Department, starting there as chief in 2019. Before, most of his 23-year career occurred at the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He served in various roles with the state agency, including as a highway patrol trooper in Katy, within the narcotics division in Houston and the Harris County Organized Crime Task Force.
Whitmire stressed Diaz’s time working in Houston as a Texas Ranger among the “top investigators in the world.” Diaz joined the state agency in 2008 and was a ranger for 11 years.
Diaz also referenced his work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday. He said this background would help him navigate situations such as the investigation into the department’s use of a “lack of personnel code” that led to the suspension of over 264,000 cases.
Diaz addressed concerns regarding the difference in size between Katy’s and Houston’s police departments. In his new position, he will be in charge of 6,091 employees—or 6,000 more than he led in his previous role.
“It’s not something that I take lightly. It’s very basic,” Diaz said. It’s about servant leadership, whether you have five people at your job—at your company—or 6,200, right? Treating people with respect and dignity and giving [them] the autonomy to do good. There’s only one good and only one right. There are no variations of it.”
Whitmire stepped in to defend Diaz’s capability.
“The buck stops with me. I looked at all facets. I looked at experience, collaboration—yes, he’s in Katy—that was a stopping-off point, [but] they do nothing but sing praise out there,” Whitmire said. I’ve talked to HPD officers, and they’ve worked with him on task forces across the city, and they respected and wanted to work for him.”
The mayor noted that Satterwhite — now taking over as director of the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security, replacing Tom Muñoz, who left to direct the Houston Fire Department after veteran Chief Sam Peña’s retirement was announced — is not going anywhere. He added that Diaz would have a command staff to help with the transition.
“I considered experience, accountability and integrity. You can’t do any better than this gentleman,” Whitmire said. “He’s not afraid to ask for advice and counsel. I’m not going anywhere and we will definitely be held by the public.”
According to a press release from the Mayor’s office, Whitmire was going to announce other “leadership changes to his public safety team” during Friday’s press conference but did not.
Diaz said he looked forward to discussing technology enhancements that could benefit the department’s operations and encouraged younger people to join the agency.
Diaz is a native Texan who grew up in South Texas and started his law enforcement career in 1986 as a correctional officer. He will take over for Satterwhite, who temporarily filled the role that became abruptly vacant after former Houston Police Chief Troy Finner announced his departure from the department.
Finner retired in the wake of an ongoing investigation into the more than 264,000 shelved cases, the findings of which were released in a report presented by Satterwhite earlier this week.
Satterwhite said the agency found that many of these cases involved sexual assaults or violent crimes.
Whitmire referenced the scandal on Friday, saying that the department would not be “dragged through a mess he inherited” that shook people’s confidence. He said those “days are over,” and it was about getting the work required done.
“That’s what I really want you to take away from here today,” Whitmire said. “A fresh start.”
Diaz’s first day serving as chief will be on Wednesday, August 14, after Houston City Council approves his appointment.
Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite did not mince his words as he warned Houston City Council on Wednesday that without more staff, the Houston Police Department will remain unable to investigate all the cases brought to the agency.
“That’s something I don’t want to tell you — and certainly not in this position — but that is honesty,” Satterwhite said. “We simply cannot investigate all crimes. Not until we get more people. We desperately need more people.”
Satterwhite stressed the need to prioritize recruiting while presenting the key findings of a widely anticipated report that unveiled more information about the use of a “suspended-lack of personnel” code used by the Houston Police Department.
News of the code’s use across the department broke in February when former Houston Police Chief Troy Finner announced that it had caused more than 264,000 incident reports to be shelved without further investigation.
Satterwhite detailed the origin of the code, tying its creation to the administration under former interim police chief Martha Montalvo — who led the department in 2016 briefly before former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo took over.
According to Satterwhite, the first major failing was the need for more guidelines attached to the code. Those using it would focus on cases they determined to have solvability. Hundreds of thousands of incident reports with workable leads that could’ve led to arrests — he admitted — were neglected as a result.
“Once they were suspended, they were never revisited,” he said.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire interrupted Satterwhite to question the content of these cases. Satterwhite confirmed of the more than 264,000 suspended cases, many involved serious sexual assaults and at least two were murders. He added that the number of murders could increase as further review continues.
Whitmire contended that some of the “worst of the worst” cases went backlogged for years.
Satterwhite detailed the case that spurred the deep dive into the code. Officers responded to a call involving a robbery and sexual assault and found that the suspect involved in that incident was linked to a prior sexual assault. However, the first sexual assault, in which the complainant had named the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle, had been suspended.
The department found that over 4,000 sexual assault cases had been shelved using the code. Those with the agency also discovered that 264,371 cases had gone uninvestigated across all divisions.
“The scope of this and the magnitude of it was truly not known until February,” Satterwhite said. “That’s a failure of leadership. At the executive level, we should have asked more questions and we could have done more.”
Satterwhite said investigators with the Special Victims Division had been told to stop using the code in specific cases several years ago. In 2017, investigators with the division had found that 1,600 child sexual assault cases had been suspended.
Then-Commander of the Special Victims Division David Angelo requested that the department hire more investigators for the division and ordered that the code never be applied to a child sexual assault case. However, Satterwhite noted, it continued to be used in adult sexual assault cases.
Houston City Council member Martha Castex-Tatum challenged why the department could avoid using it for incidents involving children but couldn’t extend it to reports from adults. Satterwhite said it was another “miss” by the agency.
According to Satterwhite, Finner also gave all departments another directive about not using the code in 2021. Officers continued to use it, and the code remained in the department’s record management system as it could not be removed without the software crashing.
Houston City Council member Amy Peck asked if those who applied the code to cases after Finner’s directive faced disciplinary action. Satterwhite said they were not held accountable because they technically operated within department policy.
The code was used for roughly eight years. Of the 264,371 cases, 176,221 have been reviewed, and 81,079 have had a final disposition entered. Satterwhite noted that the department pulled officers who patrol and have other duties off the streets to continue chipping away at the cases it has left to investigate.
“I’m still shocked that this could exist for so many years and not become public,” Whitmire said. “You aren’t going to fix something until it comes public.”
Mayor John Whitmire reiterated his disbelief that it took this long for the code to come to light.
Screenshot
Several reports have indicated that Finner knew prior to 2021, as an email mentioning the code was sent to staff in 2018 with the former police chief copied on it. However, Finner maintained that he did not know about it then.
On Wednesday, Satterwhite said it was “very fair” to say Finner was not being dishonest when saying he did not recall the email discussing the code’s use.
Whitmire announced the report would be finalized and presented to the public hours after the Houston Chroniclepublished comments by the former police chief.
Finner expressed concerns that the department’s report may not reach a conclusion that would be available to the public. Before Finner’s retirement, he had released routine updates about its progress. When Satterwhite took over, these halted.
Whitmire responded to Finner in a statement, saying he was “personally disappointed” that Finner felt motivated to make these “allegations.” Whitmire wrote that Finner’s comments did not deserve a response insisting the facts didn’t support them.
Whitmire had repeatedly delayed the report’s release since Finner’s retirement. Finner stepped down abruptly shortly after news broke of the code’s use.
HOUSTON – Wednesday morning, the Houston Police Department presented a report before Houston City Council on the controversial code that suspended more than 260,000 cases.
“Suspended – Lack of Personnel (SL)” was the code used to designate cases as suspended in the HPD’s record management system.
HPD acting Police Chief Larry Satterwhite presented the 43-page report, titled “Use of the SL Code: A Report of Findings,” at around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
KPRC 2 Investigates has reported on the investigation since details first emerged in February. In March, Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed an independent committee to investigate the suspended cases. In May then-Police Chief Troy Finner resigned.
Here are some key findings:
The origins of the code: HPD created the SL code back in 2016, with the purpose of organizing cases that were not being investigated due to inadequate personnel in the department. The department has called for additional staffing in past years, which included former Police Chief Charles A. McClelland, Jr. bringing a formal request before Houston City Council in 2014. HPD says its investigative staffing capacity has not changed significantly in the decade since that request.
The total number of cases with the SL label: In the nearly eight years between the SL code’s creation in 2016 and the discovery of its magnitude in 2024, it was used for 264,371 total incidents. More than 98% of these cases were associated with incidents occurring since January 1, 2018.
How structural failures within the department allowed the issue to snowball: Systemic failures within the HPD allowed the SL code to not only exist but become frequently implemented. Firstly, the department suffered significant turnover, including waves of retirements and personnel transfers. Secondly, there was a lack of oversight for the Record Management System—or RMS—which was used to assign cases with the SL label.
Divisions were trained “how” rather than “why”: All investigative divisions were trained on how to use the SL code through multiple hour-long training sessions in 2016, but each division was left to determine its own individual guidelines for when the code was acceptable to use, and there were no written parameters for the code’s applicability to various crimes. For example, there were no department-wide distinction between property crimes and crimes against persons under the SL umbrella.
A need for situational hierarchy: Due to the high amount of crime across Houston and the staff constraints HPD must work around, the department emphasized a need to prioritize certain investigations, with person-on-person crimes being named the highest priority.
Here is how the department reacted:
New quality control process: The department is still working to review the 264,371 cases while containing its regular duties. To tackle this massive project, HPD has implemented a quality assurance/quality control (QAQC) process. As of the release of the report, 2,540 cases have been reviewed, with sexual assault and family violence cases holding the highest priority. 62% of those cases required no additional follow-up.
Case management trainings: The commander of the HPD Investigative Standards Committee is finalizing a training on case management for all staff members working on investigations. The training hopes to ensure proper coding and prioritization of cases. The goal is to implement the training during the 2024-25 training cycle, with new personnel able to take the course within 90 days of assignment.
A new RMS: City Council has authorized the purchase of a newer, more current management system, which is slated to be active by March of 2025. With the implementation of the new program, the department wants leadership to have a “strong managerial awareness and oversight of the case management process.”
Staffing shortages: HPD acknowledged that the staffing shortages it faces may never be fully addressed. To combat this issue, leadership must regularly review staffing allocations to make sure resources are being used in the most efficient manner.
Read the full report here:
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – The family of as man shot and killed while working at the Houston Farmers Market is opening up about the loss of their loved one.
Damon Price, 36, was shot after confronting two teens who were allegedly trying to steal a golf cart from the Houston Heights business early Thursday morning.
According to the Houston Police Department, a fight ensued after Price confronted them. That’s when a 14-year-old pulled out a gun and shot Price, killing him.
On Saturday, just two days after he was killed, Price’s fiancé is opening up only to KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding.
“To know Damon is to love Damon, and he was truly loved,” Ashley Thomas said. “A great father, a great friend, provider, everything. He was everything to me.”
Price, at just 36 years old, was murdered while working the early morning shift as a gatekeeper at the Houston Farmers Market.
He leaves behind his fiance and the six kids they share between them.
Damon Price and his fiancé Ashley Thomas. Price, 36, was killed when two teens shot and killed him while trying to steal a golf cart from the Houston Farmers Market. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Ashley Thomas: “I’m gonna say my kids because he love my kids like they were his own. And that was my babies, too. I know they hurt.”
Gage Goulding: “They have to grow up without a father now, your kids. That was a father figure for them to grow up without that.”
Ashley Thomas: “For four years. They [were] so used to him coming in the door. And now to see that he can’t come in and not to hear him say. His words ‘Off your ass, on your feet’ is, this is crazy, to not hear those words.”
Gage Goulding: “What are you going to miss most about Damon?”
Ashley Thomas: “The way he loved me and he loved on me.”
She didn’t realize something happened until she called down to the Houston Farmers Market on Thursday morning. She sensed that something was wrong when she woke up.
“We have a routine, she said. “And the routine was if I don’t text him before he text me, we better text each other and I did not get it text, a ‘Good morning, baby.’”
When she reached the security guard at the Houston Farmers Market, she learned the love of her life was gone.
“That’s when she told me to sit down. And I’m like, ‘Why, I gotta sit down?’ And she tells me. I still feel like I’m in a dream and I pinch me. But it’s my reality. Yeah, he’s not here.”
Damon was shot and killed by a 14-year-old who was trying to steal a golf cart. When he confronted them, a fight started and one of the teens pulled out a gun, shooting and killing Damon.
Gage Goulding: “These are teenagers that did this and took this man not only out of your life, but out of your children’s life, out of his children’s life.”
Ashley Thomas: “I can’t—I can’t even process it. What are y’all doing? I can’t even be angry because these are children. I don’t know how to be angry at kids when I have kids myself.”
Gage Goulding: “Do you think that there’s a violence problem here in Houston?”
Ashley Thomas: “Of course, and it needs to come to an end.”
Damon’s family is planning on a balloon release to celebrate his life next week.
HOUSTON – A senior living apartment complex in Houston is accused of abandoning its vulnerable residents after a severe weather outbreak in Houston on Thursday.
During an update on the recovery following Thursday’s deadly storm in Houston, Mayor John Whitmire spoke about an issue that was brought to his attention.
Whitmire said the city was informed about an assisted living facility, Independence Hall on Burress Street, whose management allegedly abandoned those living at the facility after the storm hit Thursday.
Houston Firefighters responded and immediately transported at least two people to the hospital on Sunday, according to Fire Chief Samuel Pena.
“They haven’t had energy, they haven’t had food, their insulin has been ruined,” Whitmire said. “We were notified of this and I can’t begin to tell you the response was so impressive by Houston Fire, Houston PD, the Health Department, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, all the stakeholders ran to Independence Hall and that’s where I’m headed at the conclusion of this press conference.”
Whitmire said they are going to hold the management accountable.
“We’re going to hold the management responsible. If they want to do business and be licensed in the state of Texas in the City of Houston, they’re going to have to care for their clients,” he said.
The mayor visited the site on Sunday evening alongside Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena and acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite.
He took KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding and Photojournalist Patrick Hardesty into one of the worst impacted units. The ceiling has collapsed in and many of the belongings inside were soaking wet.
“This is not just from the storm. The units 260, have been neglected for years,” Mayor Whitmire said. “You have an absentee owner placing a manager that doesn’t have the resources to address these life safety issues.”
Residents echoing the words of the Mayor. They say staff at Independence Hall left them high and dry after weather moved through the area on Thursday.
Gage Goulding: “Did they do anything to help you? Did they bring you ice? Did they bring you food?”
Wanda Fitzpatrick: “No. No food, no ice, no nothing. You need to come and see about us. You want our rent money. We want to live better than where we living.”
Calling the situation deplorable, Whitmire said they haven’t been able to contact everyone living there. Houston Firefighters and police officers were going door to door and they weren’t leaving until every last resident was accounted for.
Whitmire said there are approximately 260 units at the assisted living facility.
The City of Houston already flagged Independence Hall in April, placing a red tag on the front of the building. Issues with electrical permits for several buildings was the cause and it appears the issues were never corrected.
The Mayor now says he’s working with law enforcement to potentially pursue criminal charges.
“We’re discussing the HPD, the criminal neglect, abandonment of the owner and leaving people living in these conditions,” he said.
KPRC2 asked the management of Independence Hall for comment on this story. We have yet to receive a response.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry visited the Yale Street Marketplace Supercharger, the latest charging station to be looted.
The chargers are back up and running now, and they’ve been working all evening. The scene this morning was a different story, as Tesla drivers were notified that the station was closed after its two dozen cables had been clipped.
A damaged Tesla Supercharger in Houston, Texas after thieves cut the high-voltage charging cable. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Israel Robles is one of the many Tesla drivers who had to find a different outlet.
“It’s, like, really inconvenient, because you plan your destinations based on being able to charge on the way,” Robles said.
Here’s all the charging stations we know have been hit so far:
Kipling St – Montrose
Glenbrook Square, 6300 Telephone Rd
10850 Louetta Rd – Northwest Harris County
Westheimer & Dairy Ashford – West Houston
195 Yale St – Heights
With this sudden uptick in cable clipping, the question as to who’s committing these crimes—and why—remains unclear.
Some speculate that copper wire theft could be a motive, but this scrapyard owner says these thieves should think again.
Brandi Harleaux owns South Post Oak Recycling Center, a metal scrapyard in southern Houston where thieves might think to sell the insulated copper wire found in a Tesla charging cable.
“There could be folks who think that they can make a lot of money selling to a recycling facility like ours,” Harleaux said.
At Harleaux’s yard, the insulated wire goes for just 70 cents per pound. So hypothetically, 50 pounds of Tesla charging cable would only be worth $30.
Not only is the potential payout underwhelming, but the strenuous documentation process that scrapyards adhere to makes recycling stolen materials especially risky.
“It’s more steps to recycle material here than it is for many people to go to a bank,” Harleaux said.
Sellers are required to sign documents, have their picture taken and even submit their fingerprints. That information is then uploaded to state and local databases. With such stringent surveillance, Harleaux says targeting the charger cables just doesn’t make sense.
“Leave it alone,” she said.
Tonight, the motive of these crimes remains unknown. However, earlier this week, the owner if an electric vehicle repair company told KPRC 2 that his guess is it’s either a copper thief, or someone who has it out for electric vehicles.
“I feel like eventually, they’re going to get caught,” Robles said.
HOUSTON – Monday, KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding reported on the theft of 18 cables from a Tesla charging station in Montrose.
Since his report, more charging stations across the Houston area have been ransacked, leaving electric vehicle owners without a spark.
On Wednesday, the cables from all charging stations at the Glenbrook Square shopping center were stolen. Every single connector in the lot had been slashed.
An image of the stations after the theft (Adrian Montes, KPRC 2)
Then last night, more charging stations were clipped in northwest Harris County. One was located at 10850 Louetta Rd.
In the burglary on Louetta, a source tells KPRC 2 that a man, wearing a bIack hoodie and bIack pants, was seen cutting the charger cables at the station, before bolting across the street and getting into a bIack sedan.
It’s unclear whether the crimes are being committed by the same perpetrators.
Nathaniel French has owned a Tesla for nearly six years. As a long-standing fan of electric vehicles and someone who commutes from Austin for work, he knows his way around a charging station.
He visited a station that had been hit when he needed a charge, before being shocked by the inconvenient revelation.
“It’s unfortunate,” French said. “People don’t realize how much it affects you. It’s just kind of like going to get gas, and then you can’t get gas for your cars. It’s a struggle, and it’s frustrating to say the least.”
HOUSTON – Imagine pulling into the gas station only to find out that someone cut all of the hoses attached to the pumps.
That’s the equivalent of what happened at a Houston-area electric vehicle charging station over the weekend.
Drivers pulled into the Kipling Street Tesla Supercharger only to find that all but one of the cords to plug into their vehicle was cut clean and stolen.
The Houston Police Department tells KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding that 18 of the 19 charging stations had their cables stolen, according to a report that was filed by a Tesla service technician on Monday.
“Yeah, I’d be pretty upset about that,” said Alex Longo, who’s traveling through Houston on his way to San Antonio. “I would have been in trouble.”
You likely would be too if you really needed to use that charger and the plug and cord were missing.
“I mean, I love my EV but the anxiety of running out of juice,” Vincent Evangelista said while charging his Tesla.
Tesla Supercharges recently were opened up to other makes and models of vehicles to also tap into the expansive network of electric vehicle chargers built by Elon Musk.
A damaged Tesla Supercharger in Houston, Texas after thieves cut the high-voltage charging cable. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
The Superchargers get their name from the impressive jolt their able to give electric vehicles in such a short time.
At this location, they can deliver a max charge rate of 250kW at 500 DC volts.
In simple terms, that’s enough electricity to power more than three average American homes.
So, what would happen if you came in contact with that much energy?
“Oh, it would kill you in an instant,” said Cameron Trial, owner of CPR EV Repair.
But it didn’t. Why?
“The cables themselves are not live. The supercharger has to make communication with the car before it powers the cable,” Trial said. “But that’s not to say that you could have a faulty supercharger. That the cable was always live. And if that’s the case, and you try to cut through it, you’re going to kill yourself.”
A damaged Tesla Supercharger in Houston, Texas after thieves cut the high-voltage charging cable. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
This leads him to believe that whoever is behind this crime likely knows what they’re getting into.
Trial was able to come up with two reasons.
“Personally, I think it’s, it’s an anti-EV movement,” he said.
Someone who hates electric cars so much that they’d risk a felony and their life.
Or it could be what’s under the black coating of the cable: copper.
“For the amount of work it took to do that and, the risks that it takes, it’s not worth your life,” Trial said.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A Southeast Houston man, who neighbors and law enforcement say was in crisis, died following an altercation with Houston Police Sunday morning.
Family have identified the deceased as Egin Tavera. According to Assistant Houston Police Chief Wyatt Martin Taveras heart stopped beating about a minute or so after officers handcuffed him.
Martin said paramedics with the Houston Fire Department worked unsuccessfully for about twenty minutes to revive Tavera on scene before transporting him to Southeast Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
Martin said officers called paramedics prior to the encounter because they could tell (Tavera) had ingested narcotics and they were very concerned for his wellbeing.
Neighbors ABC13 spoke with said Tavera was running around the neighborhood on Sageleaf Drive, naked, screaming and bloody. At least one of them called 9-1-1 around 7 a.m.
By the time officers approached Tavera it was approximately 7:30 a.m., according to Martin. He was inside a neighbor’s back sunroom. The resident showed ABC13 how Tavera broke a glass window to gain entry. He appeared to have injured himself in the process.
Martin said he did not know how many officers tased Tavera, or for how long. He said he could only confirm Tavera was tased at least once. Martin indicated the preliminary belief was that narcotics combined with the taser may have caused his heart to fail.
The department declined to state what substance Tavera was allegedly using, pending autopsy results. Taveras cause of death will not be known until that autopsy is completed.
“It appears there may have been long term narcotics use involved,” said Martin.
Martin also stated Tavera had been wrestling with officers prior to being tased. The department declined to disclose how many officers were involved in the physical altercation, citing ongoing investigations.
According to the department, no officers have been placed on leave at this time. The incident is under investigation by multiple entities, including the police department, per protocol.
Martin said officers were wearing body worn cameras.
Taveras neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC13 Its sad. We hope that nowadays there would be more mental health help out there. I really did not think it would end up today with him passing.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As promised, the Houston Police Department increased its overnight presence in Third Ward between Saturday night into Sunday morning. This came after neighbors voiced their concerns about the area’s high crime to Chief Troy Finner during a community meeting Thursday.
Still, just an hour after HPD had a press conference Saturday night, their officers responded to a shooting where the victim was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
Investigators said around 11:30 p.m., two people were dropping someone off on Rosalie near Milby. HPD was told a stranger got into their car and started smoking a cigarette. They claimed that they told him to get out, which he did. But he allegedly came back and shot at the car at least three times.
The driver was transported to the hospital in serious condition with injuries to his chest and limbs. Officers received a description of the suspect and were able to detain him shortly after, HPD said.
Two guns were also recovered from the scene.
This comes less than a week after another shooting occurred about two miles away. Last Monday, a homeowner’s camera captured dozens of gunshots being fired at the intersection of Arbor and Emancipation. HPD said a man was shot and crashed his car before rushing to a nearby club for help.
“You think we’re going to just stand by and let you drive down the streets, shooting guns, discharging weapons, and shooting at police? We’re not going to tolerate that. I’ve been very successful. Not just me but my entire team when we step our feet into a particular neighborhood. We have good results,” Finner said.
Chief Finner and Houston City Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz then held a community town hall Thursday, where dozens of Third Ward residents arrived and voiced their concerns. They called for increased patrols overnight, surveillance cameras on certain streets, and noise meters around bars and nightclubs.
“What I’ve learned in 34 years of policing is you don’t set plans until you’ve talked to community members because the only way you’re going to address true problems, crime, and quality of life issues is with the community,” Finner said.
In the meeting, Finner promised greater police presence in the neighborhood beginning this weekend. He joined his patrol officers overnight shortly after the press conference, where he said one of their priorities would be to talk to owners of bars and nightclubs in the area. Residents have claimed these nightlife businesses are a big contributor to the crime.
“If people want to walk down the street in the evenings and at night. I want them to be able to do that, to get sleep. Just because the club is down the street on the same block, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to get rest when you need rest,” Finner said.
HPD Commander Sonny Nguyen said that as of 10:30 p.m. Saturday, they had confiscated three assault rifles and three pistols off the streets. Officers made numerous traffic stops, issued 20 citations for parking, towed six cars, and cited people for other violations.
Community members said they would like to see more measures implemented, other than increased law enforcement patrol, to combat crime in the area.
In a statement to ABC13 from Evans Shabazz’s office, she wrote that they are allocating funds to purchase safety cameras and analyzing which streets need additional lighting.
For more on this story, follow Rosie Nguyen on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Police Chief Troy Finner has publicly denounced the use of a code associated with the mass amounts of cases dating back several years.
“I made a promise to everyone that we’re going to work through each and every one of those incident reports,” Chief Finner said on Thursday. “So, that’s what we’re doing.”
During a press conference on Thursday, the chief announced a progress report of the department’s effort to back track through the cases.
We’re breaking down the Houston Police Department’s investigation by the numbers.
264,000 – The number of cases suspended by the Houston Police Department by using a code associated with “lack of personnel”
81,650 – The number of cases Chief Finner says investigators have reviewed in the last six weeks
26,000 – Number of cases Chief Finner says were “rightfully suspended.”
4,017 – Number of adult sex crime cases
3,948 – Adult sex crime cases that have been reviewed
3,079 – Adult sex crime cases inactivated due to lack of leads
1,944 – Cases reviewed by investigators per day over the last six weeks
1,669 – Officer visits to last known addresses of victims
395 – Forensic interviews scheduled with victims
220 – New sex assault cases discovered during the course of the probe
14 – Approximate cases reviewed on average per day by the 132 investigators working the backlog of cases
5 – Suspects charged as a result of investigations
1 – Case incorrectly coded that is now being investigated as a homicide
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – A man is dead after someone ran him over using the victim’s own pickup truck.
The Houston Police Department responded to the crime scene in the parking lot of the Artisan West apartments in Sharpstown around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.
According to detectives, the victim was run over and then backed over a second time.
Security camera footage from a nearby apartment captured the moment the man was run over twice.
Byron Yuxon, 30, was hit and killed by someone who was driving his pickup truck. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“I can believe it. I didn’t believe it,” Yuxon’s cousin Rudy Muy said. “It’s just something, like, you don’t know when you wake up and they call you. This has happened and something like. It’s hard to believe.”
Neighbors recall waking up to loud screams outside of their apartments. That’s where they found the man lying in the parking lot with a woman crying.
Gage Goulding: “Do you know who did this?”
Rudy Muy: “Actually, we don’t know. Basically, we have no idea.”
Investigators with the Houston Police Department say the suspect(s) then took off in the Ford F-150 pickup truck, speeding down Sands Point Dr.
Police say the investigation is in the early stages, however, they are ruling out this case being an accident.
“It doesn’t appear to be that from the video,” Sgt. Michael Arrington said. “Due to the fact that the person stopped and made sure that they backed up and intentionally ran over the person. But we do know by video surveillance that was recovered on scene that the decedent was struck by a dark gray Ford F-150 truck.”
Byron Yuxon, 30, was run over and killed by someone driving his Ford F-150 pickup truck on April 6, 2024. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
That’s what police and Yuxon’s family is going off of—hoping someone out there knows who did this.
“He’s a very happy guy, and he’s always kind to everybody,” Muy said. “I don’t know why they do that kind of stuff.”
If you have information that could help the Houston Police Department solve this case, you can call Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS (8477) or submit an anonymous online tip.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Houston Police Department suspended more than 260,000 incident reports made during the last eight years, including some for violent crimes, citing a “lack of personnel.”
HPD Chief Troy Finner said last month that his department was reviewing 4,000 alleged sexual assault incident reports that were suspended due to a “lack of personnel” code that was wrongfully assigned to those cases.
Two weeks later, after an internal review, HPD identified 260,000 incidents dating back to 2016 that were assigned the “suspended – lack of personnel” code, all while victims were unaware their cases were not being investigated.
In the last month, two assistant chiefs have been demoted, Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed what he’s calling an “independent” panel and HPD is conducting its own internal affairs investigation.
Finner admits he knew about the code in November 2021 and said he instructed staff to stop using it then. But, HPD hasn’t provided 13 Investigates with documents or details on how or if he informed staff or followed-up on his previous concerns with the code.
Our 13 Investigates team has sent dozens of open records requests to HPD and Mayor Whitmire’s office to dig into when the cases first were suspended due to lack of staffing, when HPD and city leaders learned about it and how they responded. But, HPD is not releasing that information, instead asking the Texas Attorney General if they can withhold those documents.
One of 13 Investigates’ requests for memos and presentations related to the “lack of personnel” code was sent to the AG, with HPD arguing it’s part of an “open investigation being conducted by HPD’s Internal Affairs Division of alleged improper police procedure.”
HPD also argues some of the requested information was “draft verbiage of an incomplete memorandum of understanding” and “consists entirely of interagency correspondence concerning the policy matter at issue and was never intended for public release.”
Although HPD released some data on the suspended incident reports, they did not release everything we asked for, including the names of the individuals who coded reports with the “SL” status.
As 13 Investigates continues to hold city leaders accountable, here’s what we know so far.
2013: Thousands of HPD cases not investigated
As an investigation continues into the suspension of 260,000 HPD cases, new details revealed city council members sounded the alarm on this 10 years ago.
A study conducted by Public Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., and Justex Systems Inc. in Huntsville identifies key issues with HPD, including staffing concerns and thousands of cases that were not investigated due to lack of personnel. The report was published in May 2014.
The study found, “A survey of Investigative Division commanders revealed excessively high numbers of cases with leads that were not investigated in 2013 due to lack of personnel: for Burglary and Theft, nearly 15,000; nearly 3,000 assault cases in the Homicide Division; nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs. The situation is so egregious in Burglary and Theft that a separate increase (in investigative staffing) is recommended … for that unit. However, every unit should be staffed such that all cases with leads receive at least some attention. Achieving that end should be the focus of the allocation of any new resources.”
June 2, 2014: Cases not investigated situation ‘cries for attention’
The May 2014 study was presented to city council members at a Public Safety Committee meeting on June 2, 2014.
Nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs were not followed up where there were leads, and I emphasize where there were leads, not simply cases that were dead in the water, no place to go with them.
Dr. Larry Hoover to city council in 2014
During that meeting, Dr. Larry Hoover, who at the time was President of Justex Systems Inc., said the cases that were not investigated is a “situation which cries for attention” and that “every unit should be staffed such that all cases with leads receive at least some attention rather than go in the file cabinet.”
“Nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs were not followed up where there were leads, and I emphasize where there were leads, not simply cases that were dead in the water, no place to go with them,” he said.
June 5, 2014: City addresses ‘mean-spirited’ editorial on cases not investigated
Then-City council member Jack Christie said he wants to give then-HPD Chief Charles McClelland a chance to respond to a “mean-spirited” newspaper editorial that highlights the 20,000 cases that were not investigated.
McClelland said the issue is not unique to HPD.
“There has never been a time that I have been employed that the Houston Police Department has the capacity to investigate every crime that’s been reported to the agency,” said McClelland, who at the time had been with HPD for 37 years. “They’re very minor crimes. I don’t want to dismiss that if someone was a victim of crime, but they are. But they have lower (or) no solvability factors, that’s why they’re not worked.”
However, the study’s authors contradicted that, saying some of those cases that weren’t investigated did have leads.
Still, McClelland said the study recommended 100 more detectives, but added that staff would “not give the capacity to work 20,000 cases.”
During fiscal year 2015, there were 5,305 classified personnel. Nearly a decade later, there are fewer officers than when the work study identified staffing as an issue. There are 5,187 classified personnel at HPD in 2024.
2016: HPD says staff first started using ‘SL’ code
Staff began using “suspended – lack of personnel” code to label incident reports in 2016, according to current police Chief Troy Finner.
Data HPD provided 13 Investigates shows the “SL” code was used 15 times from 1986 through 2013. It was used a few hundred times in the next few years. Then, in 2018 HPD data shows use of the “SL” code skyrocketed and was used 34,702 times that year.
13 Investigates reached out to Art Acevedo, who was HPD chief in 2016.
In a statement, he told us “I’ve been asked to comment on the use of the case management code, ‘SL, suspended – lack of personnel’ by investigative units at the Houston Police Department to suspend or close criminal investigations. To be clear, the use of this code was not authorized by me nor was I apprised of its use. While acknowledging the longstanding issue of understaffing within HPD, along with the challenges posed by outdated record management and analytical technology, it was my expectation that comprehensive investigations be conducted and completed whenever evidence and leads were present.”
November 2021: Finner learns of internal ‘Suspended – Lack of Personnel’ code
About six months into being police chief, Finner learns staff are suspending incident reports due to lack of personnel using a code in the department’s internal records management system.
“At that time, I directed the Special Victims Division to stop using this code,” Finner said on Feb. 22, 2024, his first news conference addressing the issue.
February 7, 2024: Chief Finner learns adult sex assault investigations suspended due to lack of staff
More than two years after the police chief said he instructed staff to stop using an internal code to label incident reports suspended for lack of personnel, Finner said he learned it was still being used to assign statuses to incident reports.
It was unacceptable then. It is unacceptable now.
“I immediately ordered a review of those cases. That code was put into effect in 2016. It will not be used again in my administration. It was unacceptable then. It is unacceptable now,” Finner said.
Finner said he launched an internal investigation and said every sexual assault incident report dating back to 2016 with the suspended code would be reviewed.
February 15, 2024: 13 Investigates receives tip about on suspended cases
13 Investigates received an anonymous tip that sexual assault cases were “suspended due to lack of manpower.”
February 22, 2024: Chief Finner holds first press conference on suspended cases
HPD Chief Troy Finner says over 4,000 adult sexual assault cases will be reviewed after being labeled suspended due to lack of personnel.
Finner announced they have identified 4,017 adult sex crime incident reports that were labeled as suspended due to a lack of personnel. In the last two weeks, he said investigators have already reviewed about 700 reports.
I promise the Houston Police Department will correct this and there will be accountability.
The chief said the number of incident reports slated for review is preliminary and could change over the next 30 days. Part of the investigation involves looking at whether incident reports have been coded incorrectly as sexual assault and weeding through duplicate reports.
“If we have missed investigating even one sexual assault, we have failed,” Finner said. “I promise the Houston Police Department will correct this and there will be accountability.”
Finner said he’s reallocating 32 HPD staff members to support the Adult Sex Crimes Unit and review the incident reports and contact potential sexual assault victims in a trauma-informed way.
February 26, 2024: 260k incident reports suspended due to lack of staff since 2016
The situation at HPD over suspended cases led ABC13 to ask questions at the sheriff’s office about the way they handle “lack of personnel.”
Although Finner initially said there were more than 4,000 adult sex crime incident reports suspended due to lack of staff, a review of other divisions found the issue was more widespread, with one in every 10 incident reports suspended.
“We have determined that department-wide approximately 264,000 such incident reports since 2016 were suspended with this code. That figure represents about 10 percent of the 2.8 million incident reports filed with HPD in the past eight years. Of those 264,000 reports, about 100,000 of them are property crimes,” Finner said in a statement.
Mayor John Whitmire releases a statement saying he is “very concerned.”
“It is unacceptable and I have instructed Chief Finner to be transparent and continue his review as a top priority. Public safety continues to be my highest priority,” Whitmire said.
February 28, 2024: Survivors fear suspended cases will discourage victims
A group of sexual assault survivors addressed the media this morning to discuss their feelings on the news that 4,000 such cases within the Houston Police Department have been suspended due to a lack of personnel.
Sylvia Rodriguez, a sexual assault survivor, was among the people who spoke out at a gathering organized by the Houston Area Women’s Center.
Although her case is not among those that were suspended by HPD, she and other survivors said they still thought it was important for them to share their stories and speak out for other victims of sexual assault whose incident reports may have been suspended.
“This news tells us we don’t matter,” she said. “This is terrible.”
February 29, 2024: Finner says reaching sex assault victims is ‘priority’
Finner forgoes holding a news conference, instead releasing a statement on social media saying, “Right now, our priority remains reaching out and personally contacting those who filed an adult sex crime incident report.”
“This morning, we assembled more than 100 special assignment officers to visit last known addresses of those who filed reports. The officers join the recently assigned 32 investigators and supervisors who are reaching out via phone or email,” Dinner said. “Advocates in our Victim Services Division are also assisting to provide trauma-informed support to survivors. As promised, we will do everything we can to reach every person who filed an adult sex crime incident report.”
March 1, 2024: Finner issues circular on suspended cases
Finner issues a circular with the subject line “CASE STATUS / DISPOSITION CODES” to be read at roll call every day for five days.
It informs staff that the investigative case status code of suspended – lack of personnel is no longer visible in HPD’s internal records management system.
In bold letters, the circular says it “serves as a reminder that the case status code SL (Suspended – Lack of Personnel) shall not be used.”
Finner also instructs commanders to “review the case status codes weekly to ensure compliance with this directive.”
March 6, 2024: Mayor appoints ‘independent panel’
Mayor John Whitmire announced that an independent panel will review the Houston Police Department’s 264,000 suspended cases.
Whitmire said he will appoint an “independent panel” to review HPD’s suspended cases in an effort to ensure transparency.
“I trust and believe Police Chief Troy Finner is doing the best he can to manage the internal investigation, get to the bottom of it, and hold people accountable. The independent panel will be people I also trust to review and validate the outcome and help bring closure to the victims,” Whitmire said. “I am deeply concerned about how and why this happened. The public wants answers and accountability. This process of appointing an independent panel will validate the investigation’s integrity.”
March 7, 2024: Two HPD assistant chiefs demoted
HPD assistant chiefs Kevin Deese and Ernest Garcia were demoted as the department investigates why 260,000 incidents were labeled suspended due to lack of personnel since 2016.
Assistant chiefs are in charge of signing off on changes to the Houston police handbook, which, as of last week, still contained the code allowing cases to go to the wayside.
Police would not say if Deese and Garcia had a hand in approving the handbook or what position they were demoted to.
In particular, the code “suspended – lack of personnel” was placed on reports for sexual assault and other violent crimes, something Finner said should have never happened.
At a news conference, Finner once again promises the suspended due to lack of staff code “should never be used and it will never be used again.”
HPD releases data on the suspended incident reports, which shows this year alone, the code was used 45,063 times.
When looking at all 260,000 incident reports that were labeled suspended due to lack of personnel over the last decade, the Major Assaults/Family Violence Division had the most with 110,690 incident reports given that designation.
Finner said just because there are 260,000 incident reports that were suspended due to lack of staff that doesn’t mean there are that many cases impacted. That’s because he said, for example, in one incident an individual filed nearly 100 reports.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chimes in on the issue on Twitter, saying, “250,000 crime victims in Houston never even had their crime investigated. That includes thousands of sexual assault victims. The state must impose consequences for this neglect & provide solutions to prevent acts like this that allow criminals to go free.”
March 8, 2024: Finner addresses antiquated records system
Finner releases a statement on social media, saying the city’s “outdated” records management system will be replaced next year.
“The incident report code ‘Suspended – Lack of Personnel’ is hardwired into the system and removing it could cause it to crash,” Finner said. “A policy has been put in place to stop the use of the code. We are noticing what appears to be occasional, inadvertent entries still using this code. As I also stated yesterday, we have an ongoing review system to flag any new entries for prompt correction.”
March 13, 2024: Whitmire names ‘independent review’ panel members
Whitmire announced a five-person “Independent Review Committee” comprised of former councilwoman and state Rep. Ellen Cohen, current Texas Ranger Jeff Owles, city attorney Arturo Michel, Houston deputy inspector general overseeing police reform and accountability Christina Nowak, and reverend and Harris County Sheriff’s Chaplain Leon Preston.
University of Houston-Clear Lake criminology professor Kimberly Dodson, who is not on the panel but has worked on independent panels looking at police agencies outside of Texas, said that she considers it small with just five people.
It’s important for a citizens’ review committee to be diverse, inclusive, and representative of the communities that they serve.
Criminology Professor Kimberly Dodson
Dodson said having a current law enforcement member is troubling because officers tend to know each other. She also said having the city attorney on the panel could be an issue because its position is to protect the city.
“I think it’s important for a citizens’ review committee to be diverse, inclusive, and representative of the communities that they serve to ensure there’s a broad range of perspectives and experiences taken into account,” Dodson said.
Mayor Whitmire says he’ll be keeping a close eye on the investigation into more than a quarter million suspended incident reports by HPD.
March 15, 2024: Woman assaulted while sleeping among HPD cases suspended due to staff
13 Investigates obtained copies of sexual assault and other incident reports HPD marked as suspended due to lack of personnel.
In one report, a 35-year-old woman alleges someone entered her apartment, and she woke up to that person “kissing her buttocks,” according to an HPD report.
That case happened in 2018 and wasn’t followed up due to a lack of personnel.
In another report we obtained, a 33-year-old complained to police that he was “sexually assaulted by the (suspect) who is a friend of a friend.”
It appears the suspect is someone the victim knew and could identify and lead police to if they had investigated, but it was assigned the lack of personnel code.
March 19, 2024: HPD union asks chief to recuse himself
The Houston Police Officers’ Union sent a letter to Mayor Whitmire asking that Chief Finner not have any part in the investigation.
They are requesting the investigation be transferred to the Office of Inspector General or another department not affiliated with HPD, and that “Chief Finner be recused from any involvement in the investigative findings or outcome in the case.”
“Chief Finner is both a key witness in this matter and an individual with an inherent self-interest in the outcome of the investigation, as are the other individuals who are former members of his Senior Executive Command Staff,” according to the letter. “Chief Finner, by virtue of his position as head of the Houston Police Department, is currently supervising the IAD investigation and will ultimately serve as the final decision-maker regarding its findings and outcomes. By any measure, in any profession, this represents a substantial conflict of interest that undermines the fairness and integrity of the investigation.”
The Houston Police Officers’ Union is requesting that Chief Troy Finner not be involved in the investigation into the department’s suspended cases.
March 20, 2024: New HPD assistant chiefs
Finner confirms Commander Adrian Rodriguez and Commander Alvaro Guzman Jr. will be promoted to assistant chiefs.
HOUSTON – Crooks that broke into a car parked outside a Montrose home stole more than just change and some electronics.
Sonia Soto says among the items stolen by criminals last week were the ashes of her late dog, Mimosa.
“What’s most frustrating is my dog had just passed away, and I just picked up her ashes and they took those ashes,” Soto told KPRC2′s Gage Goulding. “I don’t have children, so my dogs are my babies, and she was my baby.”
Her pint-sized pup is one of her two best friends: her dogs.
Mimosa, the dog’s whose remains were stolen from her owner’s vehicle during a burglary in Montrose. (Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Mimosa passed away, and Soto had her remains cremated. She picked them up just a day before they went missing last Saturday.
She was working late at a home near the corner of Whitney and Fairview Streets in Montrose. When she woke up and got in the car for work, she noticed that someone else had been inside.
“As I’m getting in my car, things don’t look right, and I realized my glove compartments open and things are askew,” she said.
The vehicle was locked behind a gate at the home with no easy or quiet way to get in.
Mimosa, the dog’s whose remains were stolen from her owner’s vehicle during a burglary in Montrose. (Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“Our pedestrian gate [makes a] pretty loud squeak,” she added. “The dogs were barking, but I thought they were just barking because we’re in Montrose, people are walking by.”
Since this happened, she’s been searching every street and every sidewalk, looking for Mimosa’s remains.
“I keep driving through the neighborhood, walking, looking to see if someone just tossed it once they realized what it was.”
“Each pet receives an identification tag immediately upon receipt at the cemetery. This tag stays with the pet form the time the pet is received until the cremains are returned to the owner,” the organization says on its website.
That means if you find a wooden box with a small bag of what looks like ashes, they could be Mimosa’s.
Mimosa, the dog’s whose remains were stolen from her owner’s vehicle during a burglary in Montrose. (Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“Bring back my baby’s ashes, please. It means a lot to me,” she said.
That even includes the person who took them in the first place.
Sonia: “I would be happy. I’d give them a reward.”
Gage: “Really?”
Sonia: “I would.”
If you have any information that could help investigators, you can submit a tip to Crime Stoppers of Houston online or by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – A family is asking for help trying to find the person who shot and killed a man in Houston’s South Park neighborhood.
The victim, Willie Earl Johnson, 56, was shot outside of his home at the corner of Glenhurst Drive and South Wayside Drive in South Park on Friday.
The Houston Police Department said they got a call around 8 p.m. from a neighbor after hearing a gunshot.
It’s only when firefighters arrived on the scene that they found Johnson’s body laying out near the driveway and sidewalk.
“The only thing we know right now is that a neighbor heard a gunshot called, and other folks were out there, HFD actually found the body,” said Lt. Willkens of the Houston Police Department.
On Sunday, his family spoke Only with KPRC 2 News, pleading for any clues that might help police capture whoever killed Willy.
“He was, a homebody, a father, a husband, a brother, a cousin, an uncle,” said Meka, his sister. “He’s always cheerful, like helping.”
“I’m sorry, dad. I love you. I always love you. I wish I was there with you when that happened. And I’m. You know, you’ll always be in my heart,” his daughter Myra added while fighting back tears.
Willy is the latest victim of a senseless shooting. His family said Willy lost one of his kids several years ago to gun violence.
This time, Willy was left to die alone outside his home.
“Nobody was there when we got there. They just left him there by himself. He was there on the ground, nobody seeing nothing,” Meka said.
That’s why they need any clues out there that might lead detectives to answers and closure for this family.
“Just call just. You ain’t gotta tell them who you is,” Meka said. “We ain’t saying you got a snitch or nothing like that, just say whodunit.”
You can submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers of Houston by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477) or through their website.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON, Texas – A Houston man is accused of using a machete to attack his own family members on Wednesday.
Neighbors who lives in the Vista at Westchase apartments say a man, who hasn’t been identified by police, attacked both his mother and sister just before 10 a.m.
The Houston Police Department tells KPRC 2 that officers, including the SWAT team, responded to the apartment building around 9:40 a.m. after getting reports of two women stabbed and slashed by a man. That same man then barricaded himself inside an apartment.
People that live nearby say one of the victims told them the suspect was her brother. She also said he stabbed their mother as well.
“I kept hearing, help me, help me screaming, help me, help me,” said Kiara Bailey, who walked outside of her apartment to find the teen laying on the ground bleeding. “So, I immediately ran back in the house and called ambulance. They was telling me to apply pressure, but it was too many stab wounds to even apply pressure.”
The mother was also laying on the ground, in the grass across the courtyard from Bailey’s apartment.
According to neighbors, the man was armed with a machete along with another long knife.
“It was the hand knife that you stick your hand into,” explained Jamia Hardy. “And you can, like, stab stuff with. He used one of those.”
The sister, who neighbor’s estimate to be in her late teens or early 20s, made it to a neighbor’s door to ask for help. You can follow her barefoot bloody footprints to the downstairs door where her handprint is left in blood.
“They had serious injuries. Lacerations to the deep laceration to the forearm,” said another neighbor, Eric Taylor.
“She kept saying her brother did it. Her brother did it. He’s in the house. He went in the house,” Bailey added.
The man barricaded himself inside the apartment where neighbor’s say the family lives.
Houston Police, the SWAT team and the Houston Bomb Squad all responded.
Some officers took refuge and vantage points inside the living room’s of some residents.
“They were in on our living room, but I can see why they used our living room because it’s a direct shot to the apartment, just in case he was to come out and backfire towards them,” Hardy said.
Neighbors say after about an hour standoff, the man surrendered to police. Cell phone video shows the moment officers dawning tactical gear and long rifles arrested the man.
“I seen he just bloody, bloody, just bloody. And he came out like nothing never happened,” said Pamela Cunningham.
The two women were rushed to the hospital, each with multiple stab and slash wounds.
Houston Police say they arrested the man and he will be charged with aggravated assault. Investigators have not yet released a motive.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — An injured man attempted to save the life of his friend, who was shot multiple times in the Houston Heights area Saturday evening, police said.
Shortly after 8 p.m., units with HPD received a shooting call near Beverly Street and East 11 1/2 Street.
When officers arrived, they found a man who had been grazed by a bullet attempting to revive his friend, who was shot several times, HPD said.
According to police, the two men were sitting in a white Cadillac parked next to another possibly involved car, described as a white sedan, before the shooting happened.
HPD said it is unclear what led to the shooting between the two.
HFD arrived and pronounced the man dead at the scene, and the second man was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
Houston police said that they are looking for any other individuals who might’ve been involved.
HOUSTON – Fans around the country are expressing frustration that the investigation into the murder of beloved Migos rapper “Takeoff” appears to have gone cold, but Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told KPRC 2 Monday morning that is definitely not the truth.
According to police, Takeoff, whose real name was Kirsnick Khari Ball, was shot and killed outside a downtown Houston bowling alley on Nov. 1 while attending a private birthday party. The bowling alley is in a three-story retail complex with high-end restaurants and a House of Blues. It is also near a Four Seasons hotel. At least 40 people were at the location when the shooting took place.
Takeoff was an innocent bystander while his uncle Quavo, who is also a member of the Grammy Award-nominated Atlanta rap group, engaged in an argument with someone. Videos circulating online show that after Quavo turned his back to walk off, gunfire erupted, and Takeoff was shot. More heartbreaking videos show Takeoff lying in a pool of blood while his grieving uncle attempted to help him.
Takeoff, who was 28 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy report by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences revealed he was shot in the head and torso. His death was ruled a homicide.
HPD said at least two people discharged firearms. In addition to Takeoff being fatally injured, two others were hit by gunfire but had non-life-threatening wounds and went to hospitals in private vehicles.
Two weeks later, nearly 20,000 fans and mourners packed the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for his funeral.
During the star-studded service, emotional tributes were given by Quavo, his cousin Offset – the third Migos member who is also married to rapper Cardi B- Drake and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, among others.
Houston’s own Yolanda Adams, Beyonce’s “Parkwood Entertainment” artist Chloe Bailey and Justin Bieber also sang at the homegoing services.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theories continued to swirl across the internet with people guessing the identity of the shooter, and others claiming that the shooter was already killed in retaliation. None of those claims have been verified.
It is important to note that police have not released the name of any person wanted or even questioned in connection to the crime, and no charges have been filed at this time.
However, HPD’s top cop said the investigation, albeit appearing to be slow, is going in the right direction.
“I feel good where we’re progressing. You remember on that day, I met with his mother. I talked with that lady personally, made a promise and there’s a lot being said. We want all investigations on murders when people are being killed to move. But the main thing is we get it right,” Chief Finner said. “I do not want to send family members on a roller coaster ride and then we have to come back and say, ‘woah that wasn’t the person.’ I want everyone to be patient and just understand there will be some justice here in Houston, Texas.”
Finner said tips are coming in and investigators are following up on all leads.
“I don’t want to discuss any details on it, but I can tell you that we will find this person and we will identify the person or persons responsible for Takeoff’s death,” the chief said. “I don’t like talking too much while investigations are going on. I’m a person that says, ‘you know what, let people talk.’ But my talking is when we get that person and we put them in jail.”
He echoed the sentiments that everyone who knew and loved Takeoff shared; he was a loving and lovable soul whose death did not have to happen.
“That was a good guy. And he died in our city. People can say whatever they want to, it’s a good city but you know what, we as a city need to find out and do what we can to make sure we identify and locate those individual or that individual,” Finner said.
Finner told KPRC 2 that he is confident an arrest will be made.
Young men of color are killing themselves. They are pulling their guns and shooting and just like that someone(s) is dead. Who do we blame? Activists, rappers, family members, Faith leaders must confront this reality. This cannot be our future when our young are dying young. st
