HOUSTON – The Houston Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding a suspect who killed a 17-year-old girl and injured a teen boy in a possible road rage shooting in downtown Houston on Sunday.
In a news conference Wednesday, Louise Wilson’s family joined HPD to demand justice for her murder.
Watch the full news conference below:
ORIGINAL REPORT: Woman killed, 1 injured in suspected road rage shooting in downtown Houston
Patrol officers responded to reports of a shooting on the Pierce Elevated at Louisiana Street at around 1:05 p.m.
Officers said when they arrived at the scene, they located a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the freeway. An unresponsive Louise and a male who had been shot were found in the vehicle.
When Houston Fire Department paramedics arrived, they pronounced Louise dead at the scene. Paramedics transported the 17-year-old boy to an area hospital, where he was treated and released.
A preliminary investigation determined the girl was driving and attempted to avoid striking a braking vehicle ahead when she unintentionally swerved in front of a newer model, black or dark-colored, four-door sedan. The sedan moved to the left of the victim’s vehicle and an unknown suspect(s) fired shots from the passenger side window, investigators said. The girl and a backseat passenger were struck by the gunfire. Police said a second male passenger inside the vehicle was not injured.
“Miss Wilson was able to brake her vehicle and bring it to a stop,” HPD detective Caleb Bowling said in a news conference Wednesday. “Louise’s last act was to safely pull over and most likely saving the lives of the two males and further injury and anyone else that was on the freeway in that very tight area there on the Pierce Elevated. It was a heroic act for her to be able to get that car to the side and stopped with the injuries that she sustained.”
KPRC 2′s Re’Chelle Turner spoke with Wilson’s family, who said she was on her way to visit friends in Galveston when the shooting happened.
“Our daughter was just trying to go to the beach to watch the sunrise with her boyfriend on her day off before she had to go back to work again,” Louise’s father, Daniel Wilson, said in the news conference. “You know, she wanted to just travel through here and go see Galveston and have a good time, and she ended up dying a hero. She was shot through her heart and she was still able to safely pull over the car and save people in her car and other people who were driving.”
Louise’s family is hoping the suspect is caught or turns themselves in.
“We know that the person who did this might see this and or other people around. There is a reward, so think about that,” Daniel said.
Louise’s parents described her as a beautiful woman who was loved and was well-known.
“They know her. They knew her smile and they talk about what a beautiful young girl she was, and so just think about that, of what you took from this world and what she could’ve done,” Daniel said. “Lay that on your conscious.”
At this time, the suspect is described only as a man in his mid-20s. Anyone with information on this shooting is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
“Criminals, and I say it time and time again- they talk and somebody’s out here talking, so if you heard something or you saw something, get it over to our homicide division or either Crime Stoppers,” HPD Chief Troy Finner said. “Give this family some sense of closure in this very difficult time. We’re just asking that you do that.”