HOUSTON – Everett Briscoe, 41, was fatally shot Saturday at the Grotto Ristorante in the Galleria area while on a trip with friends from a well-known New Orleans social club.
Briscoe was a 13-year law enforcement veteran and a New Orleans police detective. He was also a husband and father of two.
“The wife just finished a prayer vigil. She’s not doing well. She doesn’t understand how we as a brotherhood left to come to Houston for an innocent trip and we came back two short. Her husband will never come back, and nobody can really tell her why and how did this happen,” said friend Elroy James, the President of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club.
James said he was with Briscoe shortly before the shooting but had just walked away to go to a nearby CVS when he received a frantic phone call.
“They shot him in the head. You need to come back,” James said, referring to a phone call after the shooting.
James said he returned to find Briscoe and one other member of the club shot.
“I saw two of the guys who had taken the trip seriously wounded on the patio and the other brothers that were still there. We’re actually trying to provide some life-saving measures,” said James.
Houston police released images of the two men believed to be responsible, along with their getaway car that is described as a gray or silver Nissan Altima with paper tags.
“One of the brothers they came from behind the building presented weapons and we raised our hands and then shots were fired,” James said. “They didn’t ask for anything. Nothing was taken.”
Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest in this deadly shooting.