HOUSTON – KPRC 2 Investigates has learned the name of the suspect accused of killing one Houston police officer and wounding another is 51-year-old Elmer Manzano.
According to state criminal records, Manzano was charged in 2002 with felony evading of police. Manzano pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. Manzano did not serve his sentence in state prison which is normally the case, according to defense attorney Shelby Burns.
How Manzano may have had a firearm, considering his past, is a key question for investigators, Burns says.
“There is a very narrow exception in Texas that allows for a convicted felon, after a five-year waiting period to possess a gun, but only when in the home they reside in.”
It is unclear whether Manzano had the gun legally or not.
Multiple sources told KPRC 2 Investigates that officers had visited the residence where the shooting occurred as recently as this past Sunday.
Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Manzano is an El Salvador national who was illegally in the U.S.
Sources told KPRC 2 Investigates that Border Patrol first encountered Manzano in Brownsville, Texas, in 1989. He was released with a future immigration court date. He was granted temporary protective status in 1991, and that status expired in 1994. He was issued work authorization, but that authorization expired on Dec. 20, 2000.
