HOUSTON – The Houston Police Department released body camera videos on Wednesday from an incident in February in which a man said to be “in mental crisis” stabbed two officers and then was fatally shot by an officer.
The shooting happened in the 13300 block of Agarita Lane about 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18.
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The identity of the male suspect, 26, is pending notification to family members by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Video released by HPD, however, has a man who identifies himself as a brother name the suspect as Jon Le.
The stabbing happened inside the home, but the video does not show the incident, as it happened inside the home. Houston police video notes, “A law enforcement agency may not release any portion of a body worn camera recording made in a private space without written authorization from the person who is the subject of that portion of the recording, (citation) See Texas Occupations Code 1701.661 (f). In accordance with Texas state law, HPD has not released any portion of the body worn camera video captured in a private space during this critical incident.”
The video released by HPD is essentially missing the shooting and the stabbing body camera footage due to this citation. After reaching out to Houston authorities about this case and whether written authorization was attempted to be obtained, KPRC 2 received this statement from the city’s Legal Department:
“In situations where the video shows a private space, HPD will reach out to the property owner and request written consent to show the BWC. In this case, the property owners of 13310 Agarita declined consent.”
The video summary below shows an officer entering the home with a woman and then cuts to an officer’s body camera footage showing the officer saying he got stabbed and what appears to be blood on his clothes and hands. The officer is shown giving himself first aid and another officer helping him. Another officer is shown holding a towel to his face.
Houston police said senior police officer S. Nguyen, 41, and officer C. Eko, 33, both suffered stab wounds and were transported to Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center Hospital. Nguyen and Eko were transported to the hospital where they were treated and released.
Nguyen was sworn in as an officer in August 2008 and is assigned to the Westside Patrol Division. Eko, who shot the suspect with his duty weapon, is assigned to the Northeast Patrol Division. He was sworn in as an officer in May 2019.
HPD said officers responded to a welfare check where a man was reported to be in “mental crisis,” according to an initial report. HPD reported officers found the man and attempted to deescalate the situation, but as officers attempted to detain him, he produced a knife and stabbed Nguyen and Eko.
“Eko, in fear of this safety and for the safety of his fellow officers, discharged his duty weapon, striking the suspect,” HPD reported in its news release about the case.
Paramedics pronounced the man deceased at the scene.
HPD said, as is customary in HPD officer-involved shooting incidents in the Houston city limits, this case is being investigated by the HPD Specials Investigations Unit, the Internal Affairs Division and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
This is the summary video released by HPD. Below the summary video are the individual videos showing all of the released videos available via HPD’s YouTube account.