Police identify man shot to death by deputy during attempted arrest

Houston police on Friday identified the man shot and killed by a Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy Wednesday morning in north Houston.

Officers from multiple area departments on a task force were trying to arrest Jamal Ray Brown, 21, of Houston, at a home on North Ella Creek Drive when he was fatally shot, police said.

During a news conference Wednesday, police officials said Brown exchanged fire with task force members before he died, though full details about the shooting weren’t released, including who fired first and how many shots were fired.

Authorities also haven’t identified the deputy who fired the fatal shot at Brown, and information about the shooting hadn’t been uploaded to the Texas Attorney General’s Officer-Involved Shooting Incidents database as of Friday afternoon.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez in a tweet said Brown shot at authorities as they tried to arrest him.

Brown was wanted for murder the May 18 shooting of Otis Parker, 35, of Houston. Parker was found shot dead at apartment complex parking lot in 5900 block of Selinsky Road. Parker’s death might have been related to a robbery, police said at the time.

Brown was one of four people police wanted for Parker’s killing. On Friday, the Houston Police Department identified the other three people charged as Mariah Corinthian Green, 20; Quitiana Rene Taylor, 21; and Jarrell Tavon Wheeler, 21.

Green, Taylor and Wheeler were all arrested and charged with between June 29 and July 10. All three were in custody at the Harris County Jail Friday evening.

According to charging documents, Brown, Green, Taylor and Wheeler were accused of planning to rob Parker as he returned to Houston from a trip to Louisiana. Brown was seen on surveillance video raising and firing a gun at Parker’s car soon after he pulled into the Villa Americana Apartments.

Much of the planning for the robbery was found among thousands of pages of text messages obtained by investigators, according to the complaint. Police obtained a warrant for the group’s arrest on June 27.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t reported any other fatal shootings by its deputies this year, according to the state database. In 2022, Harris County deputies shot and killed seven people last year.

Brown’s death is at least the fourth fatal shooting in the last 12 months by an officer connected to the U.S. Marshal’s Office-led violent offenders task force.

In September, officers from the marshal’s office, Harris County Constable Precinct Five and the Texas Department of Public Safety shot and killed a South Carolina man wanted for aggravated assault. Officials said the man, Harrison Brown, 32, brandished a gun at them before being shot.

In August, members of the task force shot and killed a murder suspect they were trying to apprehend in the 12200 block of Veterans Memorial Drive. Officials said he was shot after he brandished a pistol.

On July 13, 2022, an Austin man was shot and killed inside a Harris County motel lobby by sheriff’s deputies working with the task force. Authorities said that man, who was wanted for a parole violation for possessing dangerous drugs and three federal felony warrants for possession of a weapon, was killed when he drew a weapon as task force members to apprehend him.

Brown’s shooting is being investigated by the Houston Police Department, the sheriff ’s office internal affairs division and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, officials said.