Separate officer-involved shootings kill 2

Unrelated officer-involved shootings between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the Houston area left two dead, including one man who approached a deputy on a stakeout for a capital murder suspect and another who officials said was armed and possibly suicidal.

The shootings took place in a nine-hour window between 9 p.m Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday, the first involving a Houston police officer and the second a Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said it could not release the identity of either man who was shot. No officers were injured, according to police Chief Art Acevedo.

The first incident took place in the Denver Harbor area east of Houston’s Fifth Ward. A caller at 9 p.m. said a man, possibly suicidal, was running in front of cars near the 6500 block of East Freeway frontage road and the 800 block of Gazin Street.

When police arrived, neighbors said the man was jumping fences and threatening some people with a weapon, later identified by police as a sharpened piece of rebar. Officers spotted the man, but he refused to comply and threatened them, Acevedo said.

Acevedo said more officers arrived and deployed two Taser rounds and non-lethal bean bag projectiles. The man at one point pulled out the Taser, he said. The bean bags also were ineffective, he said.

Acevedo said the officers opened fire when he started “charging” at them. At least four Houston police officers discharged their firearms, he said.

Acevedo said he spoke to the man’s mother, who said earlier in the night he got into an argument with his wife. The mother said he recently got out of jail and was having emotional issues.

“It’s tough for everybody but it’s most tough for a mother that gave birth to a son,” Acevedo said during a news briefing on the scene. “All I could tell her was that

whatever demons he was dealing with, as a person of faith, he’s in a perfect state in God’s hands.”

Acevedo said all officers were wearing body cameras, and investigators will review the footage.

The second incident was reported at 6 a.m. in the 15100 block of East Ritter Circle in Missouri City. The deputy who fired his weapon was part of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force, which was serving a warrant for a capital murder suspect out of Mesquite, said Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Thomas Gilliland.

Gilliland said he could not confirm the suspect’s identity. Calls to Mesquite police were not returned by press time.

The task force was stationed outside of a home reportedly owned by a family member of the suspect. Authorities received information that the suspect may be inside. When they entered the home, officers learned he planned to surrender in Mesquite, Gilliland said.

During the operation, the deputy was stationed roughly 100 yards away from the target house, Gilliland said. He was sitting in an unmarked car with plain clothes. He also wore a tactical vest with sheriff ’s office lettering on it, Gilliland said.

A neighborhood resident unrelated to the warrant operation — believed to be house-sitting for an elderly couple — approached the deputy with a flashlight and a BB gun that looked like a real pistol, Gilliland said.

“It had a black magazine,” he said. “It just looked like you were looking at a Glock.”

The neighbor tapped on the deputy’s car window. The deputy unholstered his weapon and told the man to drop the weapon, Gilliland said. At one point the man lowered his flashlight and raised the BB gun, Gilliland said. That’s when the deputy fired one round.

The wounded neighbor ran to his car. By that time members of the task force responded and found him dead in the vehicle.

Gilliland said members of the task force, including the deputy, were not wearing body cameras.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is investigating.