Man dead, 2 kidnapped hostages rescued after police chase ends in deadly shooting on I-69

HOUSTON – Houston police say a woman and child are safe and unharmed after being kidnapped by a man, who initiated a chase and was ultimately shot and killed on I-69 Monday afternoon.

Sky2 chopper captured footage of a swarm of police vehicles on the highway at Hillcroft Avenue just after 4 p.m.

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Houston Police said the chase and kidnapping was part of a domestic violence situation that started on Sunday when they received a report between a husband and wife. The two share a child together.

Police say the victim in that case went to stay with a relative overnight, but earlier Monday, the suspect went to that relative’s home and kidnapped the woman and child at gunpoint.

Houston Police were called about the kidnapping and went to the location where the reporting party believed the suspect to be.

Police found the vehicle matching the description that they were given near an apartment complex and tried to conduct a traffic stop on it, but the suspect took off in the car, with the woman and child.

During the chase, police say the suspect fired gunshots at the officers out the window of his vehicle on two separate occasions.

A police helicopter was also called in and got a visual of the suspect.

“At that point, our units backed off as much as they could hoping that the suspect would either pull over or release the hostages, unfortunately that did not occur,” said Executive Chief Thomas Hardin.

The suspect eventually got onto I-69. At that point, officers decided to use a pit maneuver to end the chase.

“At that time, there was an officer-involved shooting, three officers discharged their firearms, striking the suspect,” Hardin said.

Officers got the woman and child out of the vehicle before pulling the suspect out and performing first aid.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. Both the hostages were unharmed.

“At the end of the day, both hostages were rescued unharmed because of the courageous acts of our officers and our supervisors, and I thank them for that,” Hardin said.

The northbound lanes of I-69 are still shut down in the area as law enforcement continue their investigation.

KPRC 2 spoke with Amy Smith, who serves as the senior director of operations of the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, and she said leaving a domestic violence situation is never easy.

“The most dangerous time is when someone is leaving a situation. The reason for that is because of the fact that the perpetrator is losing power and control over their victim,” she said.

When leaving a domestic violence situation, Smith encourages survivors to go somewhere their abuser does not know of.

“First thing you do is you is call the National Domestic Violence Hotline and find a local shelter. We have several shelters in our area but call them. They can help you walk through a safety plan. They can help brainstorm the best way to get out of that particular situation and they can do a legality assessment to see how dangerous this case is and what the risk of being killed is,” Smith added.