Records: Killing spree began with drug buy
Authorities say 3 with ties to suspect slain as he crossed Almeda area
A killing spree that left three men dead and a fourth wounded last week started with a heroin buy, according to court records.
Joshua Kelsey, 35, was charged again Wednesday with a second count of murder. He was already jailed on a capital murder charge in connection to three May 6 shootings that spanned a 9mile path through the Almeda area.
Eight bullet casings were found in the 14200 block of Bridgeport where Louis Hodges was killed, according to court and medical examiner records.
The crime spree started when Hodges and another man picked up Kelsey with the plan to find heroin. According to the survivor of the shooting, he had known Kelsey for six years and had used him before to obtain narcotics. The records reveal that the duo handed Kelsey $40 and he told them where to drive. Their destination was not disclosed in court records.
Kelsey returned to the car without the drugs or cash and “he seemed high,” an investigator wrote, citing the survivor. The three men went to the Bridgeport residence where Kelsey brandished a “pink pistol” and ordered the two out of the car.
Kelsey then opened fire, killing Hodges and striking the other man — who managed to run away. The suspected gunman left in the car, which belonged to a family member of the surviving man.
The shootings that followed appeared personal. Investigators linked the death in the 5200 block of Kelling Street to Kelsey on Wednesday after learning the results of a ballistics investigation. According to court records, the new murder charge stemmed from this shooting that left Michael Miller dead inside his home.
Miller’s roommate told police she heard a knock at their door and then gunshots. She found Miller on the floor of their living room and a man leaving the home.
She had not seen Kelsey in four years but knew he was spiteful for when she and Miller had his trailer removed from their property, according to police.
“Kelsey blamed them for him being ‘homeless,’” court records state.
A third shooting happened in the nearby 13500 block of Hooper Road. Juan Garcia was shot at his front door, officials said.
Witnesses inside the home said they heard someone at the door tell Garcia, “I’ve got something for you” and then gunfire.
Both witnesses said in the past they had hung out with Kelsey.
The summary of what happened makes no mention to a shortage in illicit drugs that police said had a role in the crime spree. Police officials last week said the string of shootings was related to a drug shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Police believe the shortage is to blame for an uptick in Houston homicides, HPD executive assistant chief Matt Slinkard said.
“If there is a shortage on the street,” Slinkard said. “obviously that is going to create a supply and demand issue — increased altercations, gang-on-gang crime.”
Slinkard declined to discuss the specifics of the triple killings but said it had to do with drug transactions.
Kelsey was sentenced to six months last October for attempted possession of a firearm, according to court records. Kelsey’s criminal history in Harris County dates back to 2004 with several marijuana possession charges. In 2018, he was arrested on a cocaine possession charge, but it was dismissed when he pleaded guilty to theft. In that incident, Kelsey was accused of stealing several rims off of a man’s car.
A Houston police officer wrote in the criminal complaint that Kelsey is in the HPD gang tracker database, but the document does not detail his affiliations.