Chief: Houston murders up 44%
Murders are up in Houston. Police Chief Art Acevedo on Friday said murders are up 44 percent, blaming the rise on a panoply of factors: the stresses of COVID-19, an increase in numbers of defendants out on bail awaiting trial, reduced cooperation from witnesses and increased violence tied to gang and drug activity.
About 350 people have been murdered in Houston this year. Acevedo said that so far in 2020, documented gang members accounted for 57murder victims so far, compared with 25 last year over the same period. Acevedo also said that of the murders committed this year, about 180 included people engaged in illegal activity, such as robberies or narcotics transactions.
At the same time, the chief noted family violence murders have decreased slightly, from 42 to 35.
where tests were performed, but doctors were unable to diagnose him. He died on Sept. 8.
Tests taken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later determined the presence of naegleria fowleri, a lethal amoeba, in the storage tank for the fountain.
“The city, based on the known use that people were using (the fountain) for, had an obligation to keep the water properly chlorinated to keep kids safe out there, and they didn't do that,” saidWill Langley, an attorney for the Castillo family.
The amoeba is found in natural bodies of waters such as lakes and ponds and thrives inwarmer weather. It typically infects people when contaminated water enters the nervous system through nasal passages. From there it travels to the brain and can cause a rare and debilitating disease, primary amebic meningoencephalitis.
Maria Castillo, Josiah’s mother, said the primary aim of the lawsuit is to raise awareness about the presence of this amoeba so that other cities take steps to ensure the health of local water supplies. Castillo is seeking more than $1 million in damages and is demanding a jury trial.
“I want to bring awareness to (the amoeba) and how real it is and how fast your life can change,” Castillo said. “For me, having to sit there and watch my son just decline becausewe don't know what's wrong, I don't want any other parents or family members to have to go through that.”
Sherri Russell, the city attorney for Lake Jackson, said the city had not yet been served with the lawsuit, which was filed in Brazoria County district court Thursday, but added that it was “not unexpected.” The Brazosport Water Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It was a tragic death of a child,” Russell said. “We’ll take a look at (the lawsuit) and see how we want to proceed.”
The discovery of the amoeba led Lake Jackson and all cities served by the Brazosport Water Authority to issue a boil water notice on Sept. 26, two weeks after Josiah’s death. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lifted the do-not-use notice 12 hours later for every city served by the water authority except for Lake Jackson.
The lawsuit contends that the city and water authority should have known of an increased risk of naegleria fowleri infections after the Brazos River Authority issued a warning on May 26 that increasing temperatures and water conditions in area lakes and
rivers were suitable for the spread of the disease that it causes.
CDC test results revealed cultures of the ameoba were found in the water storage tank for the fountain, but the lawsuit alleges “other locations” served by Lake Jackson and the water authority also showed evidence of the amoeba.
State officials said this is believed to be the only instance of the amoeba infecting a public water supply in Texas. The amoeba had previously been discovered in municipal drinking water systems in Louisiana in 2011 and 2013, and in Arizona in 2002, according to the CDC.
The lawsuit asserts the fountain, built in 1999, was not originally designed as a splash pad for
kids, but rather as an “interactive decoration that would be timed tomusic.” When that function failed, the city promoted it as a splash pad, and recognized that the water would need to be chlorinated as a result. But the city did not set a chlorination schedule, and no records were kept of when the fountain was last treated before the boy’s death.
The Lake Jackson Department of Health is responsible for inspecting the splash pad. At an Oct. 9 press conference announcing the CDC findings, ModestoMundo, Lake Jackson’s city manager, declined to say when the fountain was last inspected, nor if previous inspections showed any red flags about the condition of the fountain’s storage tank.
The city added a timer system to the splash pad storage system in 2016, and Mundo said it was possible that less potable water was moving through the tank over time.
The lawsuit notes that the city’s general water supply was also found by the state environmental commission to have low chlorine residuals, making it unsafe to use. In the days after CDC test results for the amoeba were confirmed, the city and TCEQ took 54 samples fromsites across Lake Jackson; 11 showed lowchlorine levels indicating contaminated water.
Langley, the Castillo family’s attorney, said the BrazosportWater Authority draws water from the Brazos River, which is then mingled with water from Lake Jackson’s aquifers before it’s delivered to city residents.
“If the river is a likely source for the amoeba and it was not properly processed before it was introduced into the city’s water supply, that’s part of our question,” Langley said.
While Lake Jackson’s do-notuse notice was lifted in October, the city’s water supply is in the midst of a 60-day chlorine treatment process, with weekly measurements being sent to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
That process is expected to be completed on Dec. 4, though Mundo added that the citywould probably need an additional two to four weeks to transition back to a normal water distribution process.
Maria Castillo knows the city’s extensive remediation process won’t bring Josiah back. But she believes the lawsuit could influence cities like Lake Jackson to take better care of their water supply, perhaps preventing the tragic loss of another child.
“I try not to keep my nose too far deep into all the actions (the city is) doing,” she said. “I just want changes to be made.”