Police fatally shoot man with gun
HPD chief says felon waved weapon, refused commands
An armed man who friends say was searching for a stolen horse overnight on Houston’s south side was shot dead by police early Saturday morning after waving a gun when he was approached by two officers, authorities said.
A woman who identified herself on the scene as the man’s wife said his name is Alva Braziel. According to public records, Braziel is a 38-year-old black man. News about the shooting quickly appeared on social media where posts said “Groucho” was his nickname.
He lived less than three blocks from where he died.
Braziel was a felon and was not authorized to have a weapon. Since 2000, he has faced more than a dozen criminal charges in Harris County — mostly drug possession cases but also burglary of a vehicle, resisting arrest and evading detention.
According to a statement released Saturday afternoon from acting Houston Police Chief Martha Montalvo, there are “early indications” that the armed man “might have been under the influence of a narcotic, refused all officers’ commands to drop his gun and instead pointed the gun at officers.”
The shooting happened around 12:40 a.m. Saturday as a pair of gang unit officers were riding in a cruiser along Cullen Boulevard on routine patrol. There were no emergency calls about a man with a gun.
Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the officers spotted the man “standing in the middle of the street
armed with a revolver.”
The officer driving immediately stopped the police car and “gave multiple commands to the suspect to drop the weapon and to show his hands and to cooperate,” Silva said.
A witness nearby reportedly also was yelling at the man, encouraging him to put the gun down.
Silva said the man raised his weapon and pointed it toward the sky, but then aimed in the direction of the officers.
“The officers, in fear of their safety, discharged their duty weapons,” she said.
Braziel was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The investigation into the overnight officer-involved shooting incident is still in its early stages and very active,” Montalvo’s statement said. “We extend condolences to the man’s family and regret his loss of life.”
Silva said the Houston police officers involved are veterans. One has 13 years of service and the other has been with the force for 10 years.
They are part of a crime reduction unit in which officers regularly ride in pairs, HPD spokesman John Cannon said.
As is customary in all officer-involved shootings, the case is being investigated by the police department’s homicide division and its internal affairs division along with a separate probe by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Silva said.
Braziel’s death follows national unrest over the last week about the police shootings of armed African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota that have sparked protests nationwide and apparently contributed to an ambush of law enforcement in Dallas late Thursday that left five officers dead.
On Saturday morning, #AlvaBraziel was a trending Twitter hashtag in Houston.
Braziel had been cited at least two times about firearms by Harris County authorities and spent time in the Texas prison system for drug offenses.
In mid-June 2001, he was charged with the unlawful carry of a weapon. According to court records, he accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced to 60 days in the Harris County Jail.
Two weeks later, he faced a felony charge for possession of phencyclidine, known as PCP or angel dust. He pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to six months in prison. That appears to be the conviction that made him a felon.
He was charged as a felon in possession of a weapon in 2004, but that case was dismissed.
By Saturday afternoon, there was a modest memorial of candles and balloons in the median on Cullen across from a bustling Gulf gas station and the very-busy Bud’s House of Meats. A chalk memorial on the turning-lane pavement spelled out “Alva Braziel” between two orange cones. Another message — “say his name” — was drawn on the service station driveway.
Johnny Jeremiah, who leads a hip-hip church and has his own colorful history with law enforcement, was calming people who visited the memorial on Saturday afternoon. He said he was calling on Montalvo and Mayor Sylvester Turner to immediately release the officers’ body camera footage and any video retrieved from gas station surveillance equipment to prove their version of events that have been shared with the community.
HPD investigators remained on the scene in at least one unmarked vehicle while marked cruisers and SUVs passed by in both directions on Cullen several times every 30 minutes.
On Saturday afternoon in nearly triple-digit heat, Braziel’s younger brother stood in their home’s driveway as friends and relatives stopped by to offer condolences.
Keon Jefferson, 31, said his sibling was a hardworking father who held down two jobs — working at a Jack in the Box and as a mechanic. They are their mother’s only children. Now, she has just one son left.
Jefferson described the incident as “overkill” that he just can’t grasp.
“I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to say,” he said, adding that he hasn’t seen any video evidence related to the incident. He also confirmed that his brother left home in the dark to look for a stolen horse.
He may not have many words less than 24 hours after the shooting, but Jefferson was firm about his opinion of police statements that his brother was waving a gun at officers.
“I don’t believe that,” he said.