Police shoot man they believed was armed

  Crystal KobzaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police in southwest Houston pulled their guns out on a suspect late last night. That confrontation ended in gunfire and now, that suspect is in the hospital.

The suspect involved in the shooting was hit in the leg by officers. He's listed as stable at Memorial Hermann Southwest, but the investigation as to what led up to the shooting is just beginning.

Initially, dispatchers received a call of a suspicious person in an apartment complex off Beechnut near Jorine.

When police arrived, they located a person matching that description and ordered him in both English and Spanish to show his hands. The man was not compliant and several times reached into his waistband, appearing to be grabbing a weapon.

But after the shots were fired, it was discovered the man had pulled out a cell phone.

"He drops down and goes back into his waistband and pulls out a black object," said John Cannon with the Houston Police Department. "At that time, officers believing it was a gun, fired their weapons in self-defense."

All three of the Houston police officers involved are out of the midwest patrol and are now on standard administrative leave. All three of them shot at the suspect but it's unclear how many shots were fired at this time.

The suspect is in his 20s and he will be questioned by police to find out what he was doing at the complex and why he was not obeying the officers' orders.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Body found in northeast Houston believed to be that of missing woman

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The search for a missing woman ends tragically in northeast Houston.

Texas EquuSearch volunteers found a body believed to be 48-year-old Norma Jean Scott. The mother and grandmother was last seen Thursday.

The body was discovered around 6pm near Scott's home. It has not yet been identified but we do know it is that of a naked African American female.

Ruby Lee is the kind of woman who helps her neighbors when she can, and as a mother of six, Scott was often a recipient. So when the longtime Fifth Ward resident heard about the 48-year-old's disappearance, she headed to Scott's house only to find worse news: A body had just been found in an overgrown alley just a block from Scott's house.

"Sad, I just couldn't believe it," Lee said.

All day long Scott's children showed her picture to passing motorists and made pleas for help.

"I just miss my momma. She would always console us, and we don't have her to console us right now. We just need her," Soctt's daughter, Katherine Oparah said.

They hadn't seen or heard from her since last Thursday when a neighbor saw a man forcibly take her from her home. They recognized him as a boyfriend.

"She wouldn't up and leave like that," Soctt's daughter, Bridgette Scott, said.

While we were talking to Scott's family, Texas EquuSearch volunteers were aboard ATVs riding the neighborhood.

Just a few hours after they had been called to help, the searchers made a discovery. The body, they tell us, that matches Scott's description.

Her children distraught by the news could only watch as crime scene investigators worked past dusk, not far from where Scott was last seen.

"I'm going to be suspending the search until we know different," EquuSearch's Frank Wilson said. "I think the medical examiner's office will know fairly quick."

An ID likely will come Tuesday from the medical examiner's office.

We do know Scott's boyfriend voluntarily went to a police substation, where he is being questioned.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Coast Guard suspends search for 6 people believed missing in the Gulf of Mexico off Galveston

  GALVESTON, TX -- Six people are missing in the Gulf of Mexico after they abandoned their sinking fishing boat in the waters off Galveston, Texas, the Coast Guard said Monday.

The Coast Guard had been searching for them ever since the boat's captain sent a mayday call Sunday afternoon, saying the vessel was sinking and that the six people onboard were planning to escape in an orange life raft, said Coast Guard command center controller Elvie Damaso. However, around 6pm Monday, the Coast Guard suspended its search for the day. It says it will and said it will continue sending out the radio broadcast for ships in the area to be on the lookout for them and then decide whether to resume actively searching for them on Tuesday.

Eyewitness News received a copy of the distress call:

"We have an onboard emergency. We are taking on water sir," the unidentified boat captain told the Coast Guard.

Damaso says authorities are not sure if the boat is called Scallywag or Skylark because the quality of the line was poor.

Coast Guard officials need the public's help in trying to work out who was on the boat and where it came from, Petty officer Richard Brahm said.

"We weren't able to get it from the captain before the boat went down," Brahm said.

Damaso said at least three boats, a helicopter, a plane and two cutters are involved in the search for the missing fishermen in a stretch of water roughly the size of Delaware. The boat went down somewhere off the coast of Galveston, about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

"All my electronics are down and I couldn't give you an exact location," the boat's captain said in the distress call. Brahm said authorities couldn't be more specific about where to search for the boat because the distress call was received by several communication towers.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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