Man who shot officers named

Recently released from prison, he had gang ties, officlals say

Just 10 months after he was released from prison, a 25-year-old Houston man with gang ties and a laundry list of prior convictions was identified as the man killed earlier this week after shooting two Houston police officers.

Before the latest outburst of violence, Earl Donnell Riley had been arrested for multiple burglaries, marijuana, driving while intoxicated, felon in possession of a weapon, criminal mischief, trespassing and evading arrest — and that was just in the past eight years since he reached majority age.

The Louisiana native — who boasted a “Most Hated” tattoo across his back, according to prison records — has been linked to a criminal gang called the 52 Hoovers, a subset of the Crips with members in northeast, south and east Houston, a police union official said Wednesday.

Riley’s series of crimes ended Tuesday morning, when he was fatally shot after opening fire on officers Ronny Cortez and Jose Muñoz.

Police had been in the area

investigating a rash of burglaries plaguing the neighborhood when a woman on Sterlingame Road flagged them down after noticing her backyard shed door cracked open. The two officers discovered a man hiding inside, a struggle ensued and gunfire erupted.

Riley was fatally shot by Sgt. J. Garza after emerging from the shed with a 9mm handgun, police said.

Both officers were wounded. Muñoz was shot in the foot and released from the hospital the next day.

Cortez, a 24-year veteran of the force, was hit three times, including one shot that left a bullet lodged near his spine, leaving family members wondering if he will be able to walk again.

“We ask that everyone continue to send prayers our way as Ronny continues his recovery,” the family said in a statement Thursday evening. “Ronny is a protector and has always been there to help those in need. Right now, we are making sure he gets the best care possible since he is the one in need.”

Could have been in jail

A second burglary suspect is still on the loose, though Police Chief Art Acevedo said the man was not involved in the shooting.

If the stars had aligned differently, Riley might have been behind bars that day.

He was arrested on Valentine’s Day for drunk driving, charged with DWI and keeping an open drink in his passenger seat.

But two days later, prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the DWI charge due to a lack of probable cause for the arrest, and the judge ordered Riley’s release.

Six years earlier, Riley was arrested under circumstances similar to Tuesday’s incident.

HPD officers were hot on the trail of the then18-year-old in April 2010 after he was suspected in a string of burglaries in a Spring Branch West neighborhood, about 10 miles north of Tuesday’s shooting.

After a short chase, police arrested him in a neighbor’s backyard, according to an officer’s sworn statement.

Although his fingerprints were found on a stolen 32-inch television taken from the crime scene, a judge tossed the case because prosecutors couldn’t prove he’d taken the TV; his prints only proved he came into contact with it later.

Prison sentence

Tamara Penberthy watched as the scene unfolded.

“That morning they just went on a rampage and robbed everyone whose fences back up to each other and had a flatscreen TV,” Penberthy, 37, recalled Thursday.

She said her husband leapt over a fence to tackle one of the fleeing burglars.

“It was very evident that he was on a lot of drugs,” she said. “He couldn’t even look us in the eyes when he was caught.”

Before that case finished winding its way through the legal system, however, Riley was sentenced to prison for another breakin the same day.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison, with 19 months’ credit given for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

He was released in August 2011 on mandatory supervision, according to prison records.

In 2013, he pleaded guilty to another home burglary as well as being a felon in possession of a weapon after stealing a gun from a Houston home. That netted him another three-year sentence. He was released from state prison in May.

One lawyer who represented him in an earlier case said he remembered nothing about the future shooter.

“The name sounds vaguely familiar,” said another.