Sheriff revises account of shooting
Armed robbery suspects didn’t fire first in fatal confrontation, Gonzalez says
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Tuesday backed away from his office’s assertion that suspected armed robbers last week fired at police first before the officers fatally shot a 16-year-old and wounded two other teens.
“It’s my understanding that the individuals involved did not fire weapons,” Gonzalez said of the April 24 confrontation at a Jack in the Box restaurant in northwest Harris County, the first potentially high-profile shooting under his watch since Gonzalez was sworn in New Year’s Day.
The apparent turnaround by the sheriff ’s office comes one day after a suburban Dallas police chief acknowledged that an officer who fatally shot a 15-year-old in a moving vehicle on Saturday fired as the car was driving away — not as it reversed toward officers, as the department had previously said. The two Texas incidents come amid a national focus on violent police encounters, particularly with AfricanAmerican men. The Dallas teen and the Houston teens are black.
Gonzalez cautioned that his office’s investigation has a long way to go and that he could not conclusively say the robbery
“I’m not condoning the behavior of these guys, but I think each party should be held responsible for their actions.”
Elvin May, father of wounded suspect, 15
suspects did not shoot at police. However, that marked a sharp change from the official account the sheriff’s office released the morning after the incident.
“As the suspects were attempting to flee, they ordered them to drop their weapons and surrender,” the sheriff’s office wrote on April 25. “The suspects fired their handguns at the officers, who returned fire striking all three suspects.”
Tuesday’s announcement came after Gonzalez met briefly with the suspects’ families and a community activist.
The 16-year-old who was killed has been identified as Kendell Wilson.
‘They never shot’
Elvin May, father of the 15-year-old suspect who was critically injured, said after the meeting that he questioned whether the police could have avoided the violence.
“If the police ran in there … and automatically just started firing at the teens, then they weren’t given a chance to surrender,” May said. “I’m not condoning the behavior of these guys, but I think each party should be held responsible for their actions. I think it could have been handled more professionally — not like the wild, wild West.”
May said his son, who has not been identified because he is a juvenile, underwent another surgery Tuesday that lasted at least seven hours. Two others — 17-year-old Xavier Cox and 18-year-old Javalon Robinson — have been charged and remain in the Harris County Jail.
The activist who accompanied the relatives blasted the original police account.
“It’s wrong,” said Quanell X. “It’s a lie. They never shot.”
He said he would seek a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation, which Gonzalez said was premature.
The activist also said video footage showed the three teens, part of a four-member crew suspected in as many as 10 other armed robberies and a carjacking, put down their weapons when police approached. A fourth suspect, Robinson, waited in a parking lot inside a getaway car. Quanell said restaurant employees told him the teens appeared to throw down their handguns, one of which was a nonfunctional replica, a point the sheriff confirmed.
No specific details
Quanell also said the sheriff told him forensic tests did not detect any gunshot-related residue on the teens’ hands or clothes, or any evidence that the real handgun — a revolver — had been fired.
The sheriff did not address that claim when he spoke with reporters, saying he did not go into details with the relatives because the investigation has just begun. He said he met with them as a courtesy.
“We understand their perspective,” Gonzalez said. “We spoke in generalities.”
The April 24 incident came after an interagency robbery task force identified the teens’ vehicle and started to follow it, leading them to the Jack in the Box on Texas 6.
The wounded suspect’s father questioned why police did not pull over the teens’ vehicle then.
“If they were suspects, why not pull the vehicle over?” May asked. “Then you would protect the restaurant employees.”
However, a sheriff ’s lieutenant said there could be several reasons to wait, though he cautioned that he spoke generally and was not familiar with last week’s incident.
“Numbers play a huge role in that,” said Lt. Eric Batton, vice president of the Harris County Deputies’ Organization. “If it’s just one officer, for officer safety, you’re going to wait for a second officer or more.”
Plus, he said, officers need legal justification for an arrest.
“You can suspect it’s them, but you can’t know it’s them until they actually commit the offense,” Batton said. “You’ve got reasonable belief, but you don’t have the grounds to arrest them.”
Imminent threat
The lieutenant said that officers in dangerous situations only need a reasonable concern about an imminent threat. Legally, they are not limited to shooting only when shot at.
“When someone has a weapon, it’s statistically proven that action is faster than reaction,” Batton said. “Waiting for somebody to shoot you isn’t exactly in your best interest.”
In last week’s shooting, the first officers on the scene were joined by Houston police officers, Harris County sheriff’s deputies and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. They surrounded the building and called on a megaphone for the armed suspects to come out, witness video showed. Houston police and state troopers opened fire near the restaurant entrance. The sheriff confirmed Tuesday that deputies were not among those who fired.
In general, Gonzalez added, the sheriff ’s office is “not afraid of transparency.”