HOUSTON – Houston police are asking for the public’s help to identify three gunmen who killed one man and wounded another in a drive-by shooting Monday, then carjacked a woman and her 11-month-old niece.
It happened about 1:50 p.m. Monday at 6833 London St. in southeast Houston.
Security video from a nearby motel showed two men in the front yard of the house there. One began running as a stolen blue Mazda pulled up, four gunmen inside already shooting from the car. But in the excitement, the driver drove into a drainage ditch.
The men then exited the disabled car. As one ran toward Cullen Boulevard, three others ran up to a dark green Kia Sedona that was parked nearby. The woman inside was there to pick up a friend at the motel.
WATCH: Police release surveillance video of London Street shooting, carjacking
The gunmen forced her out of the car at gunpoint. The video shows her tumbling to the ground, clutching the baby in her car seat.
Police said neither the woman nor the baby was harmed.
One of the men targeted by the gunmen, Walter Fields, 22, was wounded but will survive, according to police. But the second victim, Sam Johnson, 53, was killed.
Johnson worked as a handyman at a convenience store about a block away. He checked in for work earlier in the day just as he had for the last seven years, according to his boss, Irfan Chaklashia.
“He was a good guy, he had a good heart,” Chaklashia said.
Chaklashia said Johnson had taken his afternoon break just before the shooting started. He believes his friend and longtime employee was not a target, but simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He probably (was) walking down, (and) he probably seen somebody (who had) been over here in the store, (and) he probably walked up to them, talked to them, and he just, attacked.”
Houston police arrested the man who escaped on foot. He’s identified as Mertroy Harris, 27, who was charged with murder and felony deadly conduct in connection with the case, police said.
The three other men believed to be involved in the shooting remain at large.
Anyone with information on the identities of the wanted suspects is asked to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
