Admitted would-be burglar finds body in trunk

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man police say was looking for items to steal from a car made a gruesome discovery. The man opened up the trunk of that car and found a body inside.

He made the discovery after finding the car running but parked along Normandy near the East Freeway. The motive in this case has not been determined and there is no suspect, but police have told us that this murder may have been drug-related.

At 4am, a man driving with his wife and four-month-old baby spotted a Chevrolet on the side of the road. The engine was running, and the keys were right in the ignition. He told police he decided to see if there was anything worth stealing inside. It turns out there was a dead body in the trunk, so he called 911.

Police say the victim has been identified as Donald Michael Lapointe, 28, of Houston. He had been shot at least once and left lying face down.

"We do know that he had a gunshot wound to the chest," said HPD Homicide Investigator Jack A. Harvey. "Also, inside his pants he had a quantity of some unknown pills inside of a ziplock bag. At this point the investigation is still ongoing. We're still looking to try to identify him and find out what led to this situation."

Detectives believe Lapointe was shot somewhere else and then his body was placed in the trunk. Since Lapointe was carrying unlabeled pills, investigators suspect the motive for this crime could be drug-related. There is also evidence of a struggle between the victim and his killer.

Harvey said, "The gunshot wound was the most prominent wound. However, he also had some abrasions to his face. He had some swelling, bruising."

Detectives say that the man who made the discovery is not a suspect. At this time, there are no known suspects. Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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

local, katie mccall

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Harris Co. deputies ask to ignore some burglar alarms

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Harris County sheriff's deputies are asking for permission not to respond every time a burglar alarm goes off. They say they have been wasting time on too many false alarms, but they think they have a solution.

The HCSO says it all boils down to tens of thousands of false alarms each year, burglary alarms that tie up deputies and waste thousands of taxpayer dollars. So it's considering a big change, including reserving the right not to respond to some of those calls. But residents say, at what cost?

"I think they should come out no matter what," resident Gerard Martinez said.

Martinez says false alarm or not, if the burglary alarm in his house or others in his northeast Harris County neighborhood are going off, he believes sheriff's deputies should respond immediately.

"To alarm somebody that you are in distress -- that's the purpose of an alarm," he said.

Right now, every time a residential or commercial burglary alarm goes off a deputy responds right away. But Harris County sheriff's officials say the problem is most times it's a false alarm. In fact, the sheriff's office reports out of 79,000 burglary alarms last year, 99.5 percent were false alarms.

"This is diverting deputies on the street, preventing them from answering other calls for service and can endanger the public and prevent them from answering other calls," Harris County Sheriff's Office Maj. Robert Van Pelt said.

So sheriff's officials tell us they are now considering "reserving the right not to respond to burglary alarms that have not been verified by the alarm company and resident as a true emergency" or those 'sounding' alarms that have not been properly registered with the county as required.

"When you have such a high amount of false alarms and limited resources, as far as patrol deputies on the streets, you have to make the best use of your resources and this would do that and it would not compromise public safety," Van Pelt said.

For Martinez, the potential change is too risky.

"It could be deadly," he said.

This would not include panic, holdup, fire or EMS alarms. There's also a $75 fine after the fifth false alarm. They're considering moving that up to the third false alarm.

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Suspected burglar shot by officer at adult novelty shop

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A suspected burglar is in the hospital after being shot by an officer at an adult novelty shop in southeast Houston this morning.

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

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Officer shoots suspected burglar at Pasadena school

PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- A Pasadena ISD police officer shot a 14-year-old breaking into a school trailer overnight.

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.

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Search for Montrose area burglar who uses doggie doors

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A burglar squeezing into a doggie door to get his loot was caught on a hidden camera. And this isn't the first time it's happened in one local neighborhood.

It's happened at least twice in the past few weeks around West Gray and Montrose. But one has now been caught on camera.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Dolly the dog using the door designed just for her on Wednesday, rather a man with ulterior motives.

"He put his arms through here, and pushed the other part of the doggie door through and basically just knocked it out," said Ruth Woody.

She still can't believe a burglar squeezed through the doggie door in her Montrose home. But the security cameras captured it all -- the man going in and then leaving with a pillow case stuffed with an iPad, a camera, and jewelry.

"I wouldn't have thought you can easily do that," said Jennie Beech.

And it has happened before. Just down the street at Beech's home, which was also burglarized through the doggie door last month.

"He came in through the doggie door, and pretended nobody was there, and grabbed easy to grab items, like laptops and an iPad," Beech said.

A police report has been filed, but the homeowners are also active on the internet, posting the security images on social media sites like Flickr and Facebook. The idea is that the more people see it, the better chance the bad guys can get caught.

"The pictures were remarkable, and we're hoping one by one we can pick these guys off and make us feel less safe and uncomfortable," said Viula Torgerson, "Heights Life" blogger.

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

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Deputy fatally shoots suspected burglar

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Harris County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a suspected burglar in northwest Harris County Monday morning.

A woman was home with her three-year-old son when someone started banging on her door. The woman ran with her son to a neighbor's home to call 911.

Deputies showed up and two suspects ran out while a third jumped from a second floor window. A deputy fought with one suspect whom the officer shot and killed. The other suspects got away.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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New evidence released in shooting of League City couple confronting car burglar

  LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) -- League City police have released new evidence in the search for suspects in a double shooting and car burglary case.

In one of the incidents, a woman saw a man breaking into her husband's truck on Meade Court in the Ellis Landing subdivision. He followed her outside to do something about it and that's when the burglar turned violent, shooting both the man and woman just feet from the front door of their home.

Police say as the gunman was running from the scene of Monday's shooting, one of his shoes fell off. The shoe -- a black and white Adidas AdiZero Crazy Light basketball shoe men's size 11 -- is currently being processed for DNA evidence and fingerprints.

There were four other burglary of motor vehicles which occurred in the same area -- two in Ellis Landing and two in the Clear Creek Village subdivision -- at around the same time, just prior to the shooting incident on December 26. The Clear Creek Village subdivision is located just north of FM 518 from Ellis Landing.

Information obtained from witnesses confirms these crimes were most likely committed by the same suspect(s) due to the similarities of the vehicle and suspect description.

Witnesses to the other crimes described both hearing and seeing a small sports car with a loud exhaust. It is now believed there were at least two persons involved, as witnesses described one person driving the vehicle and one person getting in and out breaking into cars.

If anyone has information relating to this case please call Galveston County Crime Stoppers at (409) 763-TIPS (8477) or the League City Police Department at 281-554-1802.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple shot while confronting car burglar

LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) -- Two League City residents are recovering after they're shot confronting a car burglar. Right now, the shooter is on the loose.

The attack happened around 5:15am Monday on Meade Court in the Ellis Landing subdivision.

The 41-year-old husband was shot in the chest at close range. He remains in the hospital in critical but stable condition. We're told his 36-year-old wife is by his side, nursing a leg wound of her own. Both were shot just feet from the front door of their home.

"It's still very emotional," neighbor Pat Wayhan said.

It was certainly not how Wayhan expected to wake up the day after Christmas.

"I could hear my neighbor just screaming, 'Help me, help me, please somebody help me,'" Wayhan said.

But there were gunshots first, just seconds after her two neighbors -- a husband and wife -- interrupted a burglar in the act.

"It's surreal is all I can say; it's just something that you would never think would happen in League City," Wayhan said.

League City police say the wife saw a man breaking into her husband's truck, he followed her outside to do something about it and that's when the burglar turned violent.

"She told me the last thing she remembered was hearing a pow, another pow and realized her husband had been shot," League City Sgt. Tamara Spencer said.

And it would take the wife a few more minutes to realize she was injured too.

"Until she went 'ow,' we had no clue that she had even been hit," Wayhan said.

"Her main focus was take care of my husband," Sgt. Spencer said.

The shooter took off in what the wife described as a black two-door sports car with a loud muffler. Police have a similar car description from another burglary Monday morning and believe the same person may be responsible for as many as three others. There were no confrontations during those, and Sgt. Spencer says that's the best advice.

"You never know what they're going to do," Sgt. Spencer said.

Neighbors say the couple has five children between them. They were all inside asleep when their parents were shot.

The suspect is described as a white male in his late 20s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs around 170 pounds. He was wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt. The car he was driving is believed to be a late 90's or early 2000s model.

Anyone with information regarding the suspect's identity is asked to contact the League City Police Department at 281-554-1802.

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Authorities searching for alleged home burglar

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force is hunting for a burglar. He broke into the home of a family who, just last year, lost a father and husband to another violent crime.

It was last Friday in the middle of the day when neighbors told deputies they saw two guys broke into the family's home in the White Oak Springs subdivision, and once again the family became crime victims.

"They actually kicked it open," burglary victim Amber Kahn said. "It was just a huge mess."

For anyone else, this would be just a typical break-in -- door kicked in, locks broken, property gone.

But the burglary that happened at Amber Kahn's house last week hits a lot harder.

"It don't make any sense, why us?," said her brother, Saad Kahn.

Their father and Durdana Kahn's husband, Saib Kahn, was murdered a little more than a year ago at his business, which wasn't yet open. Robbery was the motive, said Houston police. The minute it clicked that they were victims once again, any sense of normalcy they had achieved was gone.

"Day by day we live in pain and it's just not easy for us, so after this we felt even more insecure," Amber Kahn said.

Observant neighbors caught a license plate on the thieves car and a fingerprint left behind has led investigators to identify 19-year-old Lamont Presley. The Harris County Sheriff's Office has made finding him a priority.

Amber Kahn says others in the county's South Asian community have also felt targeted.

"People assume that we have more gold, like jewelry and stuff, due to our nationality and so we feel like we're more of a target," she said.

And because of what happened to her father, more so. Finding Presley she says would help.

"We just want this guy caught before he can cause any damage -- any emotional or even physical damage -- to any other family," she said.

Since the murder last year, the family has lost their business, and the son has had to step in to support all of them. A man has been charged with capital murder.

As for this burglary, if you have any information on Presley, you're urged to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. You could be eligible for a reward.

Presley has four previous burglary charges.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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