Mom says she was unaware of son’s warrant
Wanted in earlier incident, he was killed after allegedly firing on officers
The first indication Shanette Lewis had police were seeking her son in a crime was around 9:30 a.m. Monday when she got a call at work that there was a warrant for his arrest — about an hour before officers swarmed her street and fatally shot her only child, a criminal justice graduate studying for law school.
Authorities said the shooting happened when Lewis’ son, 27-year-old Charion Lockett, opened fire on police from a parked car in the driveway and that firearms were recovered. Lockett had been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, Lewis said she was told by a law enforcement officer Monday morning. The warrant for his arrest, filed Feb. 4, set into motion a scheduled court appearance on the 9 a.m. Monday docket, for which Lockett was a noshow, records show.
Lewis said Lockett also received a call about the warrant around that time and both of them told the law enforcement official that she needed to alert a lawyer before discussing the allegation further. Lockett on Thursday said she did not have a record of that call on her phone — or others from Monday or Sunday.
Houston police officials said investigators, on occasion, will call defendants to notify them of warrants and to tell them they need to turn themselves in. Otherwise, defendants are typically notified of warrants by lawyers or bail bondsmen.
Around 10:45 a.m., Lewis’ neighbors frantically called her with news of what was unfolding outside her home.
Several unmarked Houston Police Department vehicles had descended on the home in the 800 block of Oak West Drive,
they said, and plainclothes officers with protective vests spilled out onto the street with guns.
A neighbor, Anthony Ugoh, said he saw the unmarked vehicles pull up while checking the mail.
“(Lockett) was sitting in his car with the door wide open,” Ugoh said, adding that the armed officers then stepped out of the vehicles. A marked Houston police vehicle arrived at around the time the gunfire happened, he said.
“If anybody ambushed you in unmarked cars, what would you do?” Lewis asked.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Lockett was still in his black sedan in the driveway when he opened fire, hitting at least one patrol car. Four officers returned fire, police said. No officers were injured and police recovered several weapons on the scene, he added.
The gunfire struck Lockett’s car and the family’s garage, and shots went through the front door and struck inside the home.
Robbery allegation
“He tried to run away from them,” said Ugoh, who had known Locket since he was a child.
Lewis believes that Lockett ran inside the home in an attempt to escape the gunfire, she said. Medical examiner records show Lockett suffered “multiple penetrating gunshot wounds.”
The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting by police because it happened in its jurisdiction.
Court records show that HPD’s North Belt Crime Suppression Team sought Locket for a Nov. 26 incident.
Police said he lured a high school acquaintance to an apartment complex under the guise of needing help with cryptocurrency.
Lockett, at the rendezvous, told the acquaintance he needed money and that the man had to “give something up,” according to charging papers. An unidentified accomplice joined Lockett.
The victim said he would get money from his vehicle in an attempt to stall for time and escape. The accomplice followed him and got into the backseat and pointed a pistol at him, while Lockett opened the driver’s door and reached for the gear shift, records show.
The victim managed to drive away with Lockett holding on to him but then hit two other vehicles in the parking lot, police said. He ran away and heard three or four gunshots.
Court records do not indicate whether it was Lockett or his accomplice who opened fire.
Prosecutors last week filed a motion asking that Lockett — once apprehended — be held on a $50,000 bond.
Court records show that investigators presented an earlier version of the charging papers in December but a judge did not sign it.
Lewis denied the allegations and said her son did not have a criminal history. He had a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University and obtained a master’s degree from Lamar University in 2020 in the same subject. He was expected to take a test later this month for law school applications, she said.
Records show Lockett has never been arrested in Harris County.
Police footage to come
Taft Foley, Lewis’ civil lawyer, called the allegations that led to the Lockett’s warrant “frivolous and unvetted.”
He then likened the shooting to the botched Harding Street narcotics raid — the 2019 firefight that left two homeowners dead and multiple officers injured. Fallout from the raid, based on false intelligence, has left several police officers fired, convicted of crimes or facing criminal charges.
“The police account of what happened just doesn’t add up — that’s what I’m losing sleep over at night,” Foley said, adding that he is anticipating the footage the Houston Police Department releases. “I think it would be very convenient for the police to allege that (Lockett) fired first and that they shot back.”
Finner said that body-worn footage from the shooting is slated to be shared within 30 days — as part of the city’s police reform recommendations to be more transparent. On-duty uniformed officers below the rank of lieutenants and plainclothes officers are expected to wear body-worn cameras, according to HPD policies.
Finner said Monday that he spoke with Lockett’s family after the shooting.
“We don't know what's going on in these times, don't know what's going on in people’s heads but we have to pray for everybody involved,” Finner said during a news conference.