HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man was shot in killed outside an apartment complex in north Houston. Police say the victim was talking to two other people on Northchase near Greens Road Monday night. A group of men approached them and got into a brief argument. One of the men then shot the victim.
The victim died at the scene and the shooter ran off. Police suspect robbery may be the motive for the crime.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Alcohol is believed to have played a role in an accident in north Houston. The driver of a Kia Spectra was turning on to Veterans Memorial from Shepherd when he lost control and hit a traffic light pole. The driver had to be taken to the hospital.
Police suspect the driver was drunk.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Katy Police Department is getting credit for helping detectives in Fort Bend County identify one of two suspects who robbed a Katy-area Walmart store. According to Crime Stoppers, staff at Katy PD saw the news release on the November 30 robbery at a Walmart in the 5600 block of State 99 and recognized one of the suspects as 21-year-old Torres Martindale, of Houston. Now, investigators have issued a warrant for his arrest and a search for his whereabouts has begun.
Fort Bend County investigators already knew the identity of the second suspect, 19-year-old Dytedric Fortune, also of Houston. He was arrested Wednesday morning by Katy police on an unrelated charge.
The suspects are accused of hiding two flat-screen televisions under a blanket out and sneaking them out of the store. When they were confronted by a store associate, one of the suspect got out of the getaway vehicle and assaulted the employee.
Both suspects face a robbery charge and face bonds of $25,000.
Anyone with information regarding Martindale's whereabouts is asked to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office at 281-341-4665, Fort Bend Crime Stoppers, Inc. at 281-342-TIPS (8477) or text plus the tip to CRIMES (274637). Tips also can be submitted online at www.fortbend-tx-crimestoppers.org.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »The shooting happened just after 10pm Thursday at the Walmart off the North Freeway and West Road. The woman killed was found in a car at an apartment complex off Greens Parkway.
Authorities say a total of three women were stealing from the Walmart -- Tiasa Andrews, charged with robbery and assault of a public servant; Yolanda Craig, charged with robbery; and Shelly Frey was shot and killed by a Harris County Sheriff's deputy working security when the trio tried to get away.
"I was right there by my stairway when I heard all the screaming," witness Angel Gaines recalled.
Gaines didn't expect such commotion outside her apartment so late Thursday night, but she soon discovered one of her neighbor's relatives, bleeding to death, in a parked car.
"She said some security officer shot her at Walmart on West Road," Gaines said. "She needed help or something. She was trying to find somebody to help her."
According to investigators, a uniformed Harris County deputy, Louis Campbell, was working an extra job at Walmart Thursday night when two loss prevention officers alerted him to potential shoplifters -- women stuffing merchandise in their purses.
Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Deputy Thomas Gilliland said, "He confronted the suspects at exit of the store before they left. One female wouldn't stop, struck the deputy with her purse, ran off."
Deputy Campbell followed the women to their car in the store parking lot to try to stop them.
"When the vehicle took off, he was standing between the door frame and the driver. I think it knocked him off balance and in fear for his life, being run over, he discharged his weapon at that point," Deputy Gilliland explained.
The driver kept going, arriving at her apartment, where Gaines and her neighbors heard that screaming, wishing they never had.
"You know, there could have been another way around it, of getting her to stop, anything but pulling the trigger," said neighbor Calvin Mitchell.
Gaines said, "I just wish the officer didn't shoot her. I wish he would've just shot her tires or something just to slow her down."
Deputy Campbell is on three days paid leave as is standard protocol. He's been with the Harris County Sheriff's Office for 26 years. The Harris County Sheriff's Homicide Unit, Office of the Inspector General and the Harris County District Attorney's Office will investigate this incident. The case will be turned over to a grand jury.
Walmart offered the following statement: "This is a tragic situation and we recognize this is a difficult time for all parties involved. We're committed to working with law enforcement and providing any information we have as they determine the facts of the case. Because this is an active investigation, any specific details of the incident should come from law enforcement.
We hire off duty officers to provide security to some of our stores. While we have policies in place for our associates to disengage from situations that might put them or others in harm's way, off-duty officers working at a WM store are authorized to act in accordance with their department's code of conduct."
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »For two days Houston police have been searching for a hit-and-run driver. Now that man has reached out to a community activist to help turn himself in.
Langston Carrier was tight-lipped when we asked him about a hit-and-run accident that happened at Hillcroft and Westpark on Monday morning. But Eyewitness News cameras were rolling Wednesday afternoon as carrier turned himself in to police.
Community activist Quanell X said, "He was absolutely tore up and heartbroken about all of this."
Quanell says Carrier was very emotional when he reached out to the activist late Tuesday night indicating he's the driver of a black Dodge pickup. Investigators say they've been searching for the truck's driver for hitting and injuring a pedestrian and failing to stop and render aid.
Quanell said, "He was very, very, very remorseful. In fact, he's one of the most remorseful individuals I've ever turned in. Because his whole disposition was about he wanted to do the right thing because it's what God would have him do."
Police say the driver of the truck was speeding through a yellow light on Westpark when he hit a 25-year-old man who was running across the street around 2:15 that morning.
The front end of this Dodge pickup is heavily damaged. Even one of the headlights is missing.
The impact of that crash seriously injured the pedestrian. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with a broken leg and other internal injuries, according to HPD. Police have not released the victim's name.
As for Langston Carrier, he could face charges of failing to stop and render aid.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON -- Four men from Mexico have been charged in a smuggling investigation that led to 82 suspected illegal immigrants rescued from a house in Houston. Prosecutors say Luis Trejo-Onofre, Jose Santos-Solorzano, Jose Victor Perez-Olivas and Gumecindo Jaime-Martinez are charged with harboring, transporting and conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal immigrants. All remained in custody Wednesday pending initial court appearances in Houston.
The mother of a 16-year-old Nicaraguan girl flagged down a Houston police officer last week to report smugglers were holding the teen. The woman said she paid to have the girl transported but the smugglers demanded more cash.
A tip led to a Sept. 19 raid of a house and 82 immigrants from six countries. The girl was among those rescued. All were detained pending decisions on their immigrant status.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A chase in Fort Bend County has landed almost a dozen suspected illegal immigrants in custody. Deputies have taken 11 suspected illegal immigrants into custody after a chase that ended near Stafford at about 10:30am. We're told deputies were acting on a tip by a driver who said he saw people stacked in the bed of a pickup truck.
After getting the truck to stop, five or six of the people reported escaped on foot. Immigration officials are now taking over the investigation.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »A spokesperson for Texas secretary of state said that Harris County had been warned it would be out of compliance with the state's new voter registration law. On Friday, the state lowered a very expensive hammer.
At the Harris Co. tax assessor's office Friday, people were filling out voter registration forms.
"It's one of my treasures. It's a right that we have to vote and we need to exercise. I think it's important," said Merle Ozenne.
Tommy Thomas was here to check that his family members are on the list.
"I think a lot of them just want to make sure they got the opportunity to vote," he said.
All this in the midst of a showdown between the county and the state over the purging of dead voters' names from the registration rolls. It's part of a new state law to cut down on voter fraud, which the county attorney says is not a problem.
"And it just doesn't happen very much. All this effort supposedly is intended to clean up the roles of dead people who can't vote anyway," said Harris Co. Attorney Vince Ryan.
By order of the state, a letter was sent out to voters asking them or their families if they were dead and to inform the county of their status. But the Harris County tax assessor said the roles would not be changed for the upcoming election because of a matter of time.
On Friday, the secretary of state's office responded by locking the county out of the state's website and freezing $702,000 intended for county voter registration efforts. And that's a problem.
"It would slow dramatically the processing of voter apps at this point in time which of course have to get done by October 7 in order for those people to be on the official voter roll," said Don Sumners, Harris Co. Tax Assessor.
The funding affects only voter registration, not the election itself.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
A couple of robbers led police in Pearland on a chase. PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- Pearland police are still looking for a man who robbed a Walmart. Officers responded to an armed robbery at the Walmart on Main near FM 518 last night. The officers spotted a vehicle matching the description of one used in the robbery and started chasing it.
There were two men in the car. They ditched it and ran into an apartment complex on Broadway.
One of them has been caught. Police are still looking for the second man.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Arson investigators say someone intentionally set a fire in a southeast Houston restaurant this morning. The fire at Market Seafood damaged the kitchen, and sent smoke into a neighboring nail salon and a postal store. No one was hurt.
Investigators say the fire was set in the kitchen of the restaurant. No arrests have been made.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »Police say the suspect, Timothy Norman Perry-Price Sr.,29, was headed southbound on Scott toward the 610 Loop just before 1am when he veered off the road onto a median, striking and killing a 51-year-old woman who was standing in the median.
Investigators say he had already hit a stop sign and damaged his windshield. They also say after hitting the victim, he dragged her body for several feet before coming to a stop.
Police say they smelled alcohol on his breath and that he failed a field sobriety test. For the victim, they say this was truly an unnecessary death.
"When you are intoxicated under the influence of alcohol and other substances, things like this can happen and unfortunately for innocent people, this is just an unfortunate occurrence," said Sgt. Cedric Nickerson with the Houston Police Department.
Police say there were many witnesses who say they saw the driver throwing beer cans out the window.
He was taken into custody without incident. He is charged with intoxication manslaughter.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say there was a massive marijuana raid at a warehouse on Houston's East End overnight. After getting a search warrant for a warehouse off Lamar near Palmer, officers entered and arrested one person who was inside. They also found what they're calling a large amount of marijuana worth millions of dollars.
Authorities say the building was being used as a grow house. At least 100 plants were reportedly found inside, as well as marijuana packages ready for distribution.
"They used different methods of growing -- water, different types of lighting, fans and AC systems," said Lt. Julio Banda with the Harris County Precinct 6 Constable's Office
Authorities say they were alerted to the grow house when a Precinct 6 deputy was investigating an abandoned vehicle near the warehouse. That is when he detected a strange smell coming from the building.
Just last month, two dozen people were arrested in connection with what authorities called the biggest 'pot growing' operation ever in Houston. Police and DEA agents raided 60 homes in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties on August 21. Forty-one of those homes were found to be part of a sophisticated marijuana operation. Investigators say the suspects used rental homes in upscale neighborhoods and neighbors never suspected what was going on.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say a crime spree by a copper thief is over after he was tracked down in a stolen KIA.
The chase ended on Memorial Drive just west of Dairy Ashford at 3am. We caught part of the short chase on our Houston Transtar JamCams as it went from the Beltway to the Katy Freeway and onto Memorial.
The driver suddenly stopped and was arrested while trying to make a run for it. Somehow, he hurt his head and had to get bandaged up before being hauled off downtown.
Police say he's been up to no good for days.
"They saw a suspicious Hispanic male driving an SUV, stealing silver caps off the water sprinklers -- brass caps -- I guess to to pawn," said officer Dennis Gonzales with the Houston Police Department.
The stolen vehicle was returned to the owners who had the vehicle stolen at an Exxon along the West Beltway.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A suspected drunken driver was recovering Saturday after being rescued from a rollover in southeast Houston.
According to police, a pickup truck was eastbound on the South Loop feeder around 11pm when the driver swerved off the road for unknown reasons.
A witness told investigators it almost looked like the driver thought he was taking an entrance ramp to enter onto the freeway.
The truck drove into the trees between the freeway and feeder road, plowing down several small trees and hitting the guard rail at the top.
Authorities said the truck flipped and the driver was pinned inside. Firefighters had to cut him out of the vehicle and he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital. At last check, he was stable.
Police believe he may have been highly intoxicated. A blood test was performed at the hospital.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Three men accused of carjacking a couple and leading police on a chase are now under arrest. Police caught the men after a foot chase at the Cleme Manor apartments on Coke at Calles in east Houston overnight.
Investigators say the men carjacked a couple who were filling up containers of water on Lyons around midnight. About an hour later, an HPD unit spotted the stolen car, which is when the chase began.
After crashing, the men fled to the apartment complex but were captured two hours later.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police arrested two burglary suspects after a short chase this morning. Authorities responded to an alarm at a convenience store on Usener around 4:30am. They saw two men jump into a car and take off. Police chased them down White Oak through a neighborhood to Crockett.
The driver was trying to turn onto South Street when he lost control and hit a telephone pole. The suspects jumped out of the car and tried to run, but were quickly caught.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man is recovering in the hospital after deputies say he ran into the side of a moving truck.
It happened around 9pm on Cypress North Houston near Telge.
Investigators say the man was allegedly drunk and running through parking lots when he ran into the street and right into a truck driving down the road. He went to the hospital with head and leg injuries but is expected to be OK.
The truck driver will not face any charges for the incident.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)It happened around 2:15am at the Houston 420 business along the Gulf Freeway near Edgebrook. Four officers were riding in two units, patrolling the area as part of a crime reduction unit when they spotted some suspicious activity at the adult store.
"They pulled up. They get out of their vehicles. They were approaching the store and they see a male suspect armed with a shotgun who is in the process of robbing the video store," said HPD spokesperson Victor Senties. "As the officers enter, the suspect, obviously caught by surprise, turns around. He is armed with a shotgun and he turns as if he's pointing the shotgun towards the officers. Obviously, both of them fearing that they are about to be shot, fearing for their safety, they discharged their duty weapons several times."
The officers then retreated out of the business. They gave the suspect verbal commands to come out and he eventually came out. They discovered he was injured. He was transported to Ben Taub Hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.
They don't have any other suspects involved at this time. No officers were hurt during the incident.
There were no patrons inside the business at the time of the incident, only employees. They are being questioned by investigators.
All southbound frontage lanes are shut down between Clearwood and Edgebrook due to the investigation.
Check real-time traffic information in our ABC13.com traffic section
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »It happened around 12:45am at Miller Intermediate School off Fairmont Parkway near Foxmeadow.
According to the district, the officer confronted a 14-year-old male suspect. The officer says the suspect appeared to have something in his hand, possibly a bag of some sort. The officer says he felt threatened, so he opened fire, shooting the suspect in the chest.
"Before back-up arrived, the suspect came out of the building. The officer confronted the suspect at that point, and a single shot was fired," said Superintendent of schools Kirk Lewis with the Pasadena ISD.
The suspect was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital and is listed in stable condition.
Investigators have confirmed the 14-year-old was not armed. The incident is under investigation.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- An undercover operation leads to three women being arrested in a suspected prostitution scheme.
Accused madam Heather Rachelle Garrett, of Lufkin, was in court Monday morning to face charges. Police say they were investigating Houston Co-eds escort service and spoke with Garrett. They say she met two undercover officers and then had two other women meet them.
Police say the women offered to have sex for money and Garrett was going to charge a fee for making the arrangements. That's when all three women were arrested.
Garrett, 21, is charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution. Bond is set at $5,000.
Judith Ann Armstrong and Tristan Kaye Durate are also facing charges.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)