‘Abig loss for us’
125 family members, HPD brethren bid farewell to sergeant killed in gunbattle
The thundering crack of a 21gun salute marked the end of the fourth Houston Police Department funeral in 12 months — this time to pay tribute to veteran crime fighter Sgt. Sean Rios — and the repetition was not lost on those in attendance.
“First and foremost, I must say that we have to stop meeting like this,” Chaplain Vincent Johnson said in somber seriousness — referencing last month’s deathof Sgt. HaroldPreston. “Itwas not too long ago that I was on this same stage doing a
line of duty ceremony for an officer.”
Johnson then highlighted Rios’ 24-year HPD career that led to the apprehensions of many suspects and how he changed lives through his police work. The 47year-old retired Marine, shot to death Nov .9 amid a wave of violence in Houston, was memorialized Wednesday in another Grace Church Houston service with two families — his law enforcement brethren and 125 more kin.
Three cousins, also HPD officers, were among them.
One of those cousins, Sgt. Richard Nieto, 50, who was stationed with Rios at Hobby Airport, said the two were partnered on patrol together in the 1990s. It took 10 months for them to realize they
used to play together as children. Nieto hailed from Houston’s Northside, while Rios called Pasadena home.
“He asked me if I had an Uncle Manuel in Virginia,” Nieto recalled before the funeral, saying that indeed he did. Rios, then a rookie officer, was elated.“Hey, man! We’re cousins,” Rios proclaimed.
“It felt like my HPD family got a lot bigger,” Nieto continued.
The two worked together again at Hobby Airport, where Rios was stationed most recently until a temporary assignment dispatched him to Bush Intercontinental Airport for about two months. An hourlong lap in their shifts allowed Rios to gush about his four children, Isabella, Tristan, Luca and Giuliana.
“He wanted to tell me everything at once,” Nieto said.
Lt. Thurston-Roberson said Rios was slated to return to his Hobby Airport posting after Thanksgiving. A perk, he said, was that Rios would grill for them.
“We were looking forward to him coming back,” Roberson said. “It’s a big loss for us and it’s going to be difficult to replace him.”
‘He saw a threat’
Police have classified Rios’ death as happening in the line of duty. But what prompted Rios to exit Interstate 45 on his way to work at Bush Intercontinental and to then exchange gunfire with the man suspected in his death, Robert Soliz, remains unknown.
Chief Art Acevedo said he believes the sergeant— who was driving his personal car and was not wearing a uniform — likely confronted Soliz following a road rage incident, though no video or witness statements have been publicly shared to corroborate that narrative. Police are reviewing 911calls prior to Rios’ death that warned of a road rage dispute.
“When Sean was going to work the other day, he was probably thinking about your football game, Tristan, that was coming later on in the week,” Acevedo said, speaking to Rios’ son from the same church where Preston and Sgt. Christopher Brewster were honored. A funeral for Officer Jason Knox, killed in May in a helicopter crash, was held at his family’s church.
Tristan, a Brabham Middle School student in Willis ISD, scored a touchdown in that game. He and his brother were pallbearers during the funeral.
“He was probably thinking about the tomorrows that he didn’t realize weren’t going to come,” Acevedo continued.
The chief’s brief speech turned to howhe believed Rios acted that afternoon.
“Despite the fact his mind was elsewhere, he saw a threat,” Acevedo continued. “Instead of skirting and saying ‘I’m not on duty’… he took on that threat.”
Mayor Sylvester Turner, addressing Rios’ children, offered them encouraging words from his own experience.
“My dad died when Iwas 13, but every single day it feels like he is right here with me,” the mayor said. “Even to this day, when I graduated, the awards I got, the challenges I faced — my dad was here and so will your father as well.”
No to outside review
Before the funeral, the chief vowed that Jason Vasquez — a person of interest wanted for questioning in Rios’ death — would be found. Vasquez is believed to be the man seen in surveillance footage with Soliz moments after the shooting.
“We’re going to find him,” Acevedo said. “You’re much better turning yourself in than to have the police department looking for you.”
Soliz was apprehended last week when authorities stopped him and his criminal defense lawyer, Paul Looney, on the Ka ty Freeway at gunpoint. Looney said that he had arranged to take the 24year-old suspect to surrender at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and that police knew their route and when they would arrive.
Acevedo on Wednesday adamantly said no to Looney’s request to hand their investigation into Rios’ death to an outside agency, such as the Texas Rangers, to avoid a conflict of interest. Afew hours before the funeral, Looney issued a news release stating that on Nov. 12, he sent a letter with a formal request to Acevedo and had not heard back.
“We are confident in our inves-tigative processes,” the chief said. “We are confident in the integrity of this organization and we’re confident that the district attorney in Harris County will not just let us turn the blind eye to whatever what we find in this case or any other case.”
Looney, in his letter, wrote that there is “no downside” to turning the case over to the Rangers.
Soliz was linked to Rios’ death after three men witnessed the sergeant exchanging gunfire with a manwho then ran inside The Cactus King plant nursery on Stuebner Airline. A person matching the description of Vazquez appeared to signal toward Soliz during the shooting, witnesses said.
Rios was shot and staggered to the front office at the nearby Taj Inn & Suites, where he collapsed and died.
Soliz, charged with murder in Rios’ death, also faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for unrelated incidents — one of which was connected to a road rage shooting earlier this year with a former high school classmate.