Houston, TX: HPD officer kills man involved in domestic dispute

By DALE LEZON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Sept. 3, 2010, 2:34PM


An off-duty Houston police officer shot and killed a man at an apartment complex in west Houston just before noon today.
The shooting happened about 11:40 a.m. after the officer witnessed a confrontation between the man and his girlfriend at The Crossing at Old Farm apartment complex in the 2500 block of Old Farm Road, police said.
The girlfriend, who lives at the complex, was at the wheel of her car in the complex’s parking lot when her boyfriend pulled up and apparently used his RAV-4 SUV to block her car so that she couldn’t leave, said HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva.
HPD Officer J. Falcon, who works security at the complex as an extra job, heard the couple arguing and saw the man trying to pull his girlfriend out of the car, Silva said. The man screaming at the woman and broke her driver’s side window, Silva said. A bystander also saw what was happening and tried to intervene, she said.
Meanwhile, the officer drove up in his private vehicle and identified himself as an HPD officer, Silva said. The man turned toward the officer, pulled out a gun and threatened the officer with the weapon, she said.
The officer opened fire and struck the man at least once.
The man’s name has not been released. He died at the scene. His girlfriend was not injured in the shooting, but suffered bruises from struggling with her boyfriend.
A few neighbors gathered outside the police tape at the sprawling apartment complex.
Natalie Martinez, a mother of four small children, said the shooting unnerved her. “It’s scary,” she said.