HOUSTON – An off-duty Houston police officer shot a 17-year-old suspect in southwest Houston after the suspect pointed a gun at police, said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.
Acevedo said the teen was shot around 4:20 p.m. near an apartment complex in the 10500 block of Beechnut Street, near Wilcrest Drive.
The chief said two officers were working an off-duty job with a management district in the area when they saw a white car and a black car racing down the road.
The cars pulled into an apartment complex, and people got out of the vehicles and started shooting at each other, according to Acevedo.
The men from then black car then got back into the car and left the scene, police said. The off-duty officers got out of their unmarked SUV and saw one of the suspects from the white car shot at one group, pointed his gun at officers and ran towards another group of people, police said.
The officer feared for the groups' safety and fired several rounds, striking the 17-year-old, police said.
“When they saw the suspect in the white car start running towards them and had been shooting towards the other car our suspect then pointed the gun at the officer. The officer fired several rounds striking the suspect,” Acevedo said.
The chief said the weapon appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol.
The 24-year-old driver of the white car and the 17-year-old who was shot were both taken into custody, police said. They are brothers and live at the complex, according to Acevedo.
The man who was shot was taken to an area hospital in stable condition. He is expected to survive.
“I’m just thankful there was no loss of life,” Acevedo said. “It’s just baffling to me that a 17-year-old, not even 18 yet, his birthday is in April, goes out and engages in a gun battle and then points the gun at the officer, which again is independently verified not just by our statement, but obviously a civilian witness.”
Acevedo said a witness who was on the road and on the way to pick up his kids, told him that the man pointed a gun at the officers before he was shot.
Detectives were able retrieve surveillance video from the nearby apartment complex according to Acevedo.
Officers shutdown Beechnut St. between Cinnamon St. and S. Course Dr. to conduct the investigation for several hours. It caused a backup for several hours in the entire area.
HPD said they are investigating if any of the suspects are tied to any gang affiliation. Detectives do not have a description of the three suspects in the black car that took off from the scene.