Armed bandit steals $50,000 from armored truck guard

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- An armored truck driver was targeted in an afternoon robbery in the Meyerland area.

It happened at about 2:30pm at the Randalls grocery store at 4800 W. Bellfort near S. Post Oak Road. A Brinks Security employee was servicing an ATM inside the store when an armed suspect approached. He pointed a gun at the guard and demanded money. He got away with the guard's weapon and $50,000.

Police say that while the suspect did point a gun at the guard, no shots were fired, despite earlier reports.

The grocery store and bank remained open all afternoon. Only a small area around the ATM was affected. Regular shoppers at the store are shocked by what happened.

"It's a shame," said shopper Don Degen. "It seems like there are becoming more and more robberies and hijackings and things. I just don't understand it."

Investigators say there is just one suspect. He is described as a black male between 25 and 30 years old, 5'7" to 5'9", with a slim build and medium complexion. He was wearing a tan or off-white long sleeve button down shirt, blue jeans, a baseball cap and sunglasses. His getaway vehicle was a white Ford F-250 pickup truck.

FBI and other law enforcement officials are reviewing surveillance videos.

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

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HCSO: Security guard shoots 4 outside night club

  Crystal KobzaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- One man was killed and three others were wounded when deputies say a security guard opened fire outside an after-hours club early Sunday.

It happened around 6am at the Bronco Nite Club on Veterans Memorial near West Road in northwest Harris County.

Dozens of club patrons witnessed the shooting.

"The guy died in the parking lot because the security guard shot him," witness Brenda Romero said. "He shot him because he was drunk and he got into a confrontation with the security guard. The security guard came back and shot; that's it."

Witnesses said multiple shots were fired.

"I almost got shot," witness Lina Deleon said. "I had to run to the back."

According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the security guard was in the process of escorting several people out of the club at closing time when a fight started.

Detectives said the guard shot all four victims when they all assaulted him at once. One man died at the scene. Three others were taken to area hospitals. Officials said one had serious injuries and the other two were minor.

"The security guard: he has been assaulted; he has physical injuries, trauma injuries, not a gunshot wound," HCSO Sgt. Ben Beall said.

Romero told us she comes to the club often but has never witnessed things get this out of control. She said the deceased victim -- a man who appeared to be in his 20s -- was shot in the chest.

She tried to help him, but he died in her arms.

"I really don't know him," Romero said. "I was just trying to tell him to stay up with me to help him out."

Investigators spent the morning questioning club patrons. They are now looking into whether the club was able to sell alcohol.

According to investigators, the area is no stranger to problems. Officials say they have received 12 calls for service in the last two months at the strip center where Bronco is located. The owner of the club reportedly locked up the bar and left the scene after the shooting happened.

Detectives said they will complete their investigation at the scene and send evidence and witness statements to the district attorney's office, where it will be decided whether the security guard will be charged.

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Coast Guard recovers body of missing fisherman

  TEXAS CITY, TX (KTRK) -- Authorities found the body of a 41-year-old man who disappeared Saturday night while wade fishing off the Texas City Dike.

Michael Christianson was wade fishing with a friend when they became separated. His friend tried to find him and went for help.

Witnesses said they could hear the man screaming.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified just after 9pm. They deployed a helicopter to assist Texas City Police Department and Texas City Fire Department in the search.

The helicopter spotted the body just after 10:30pm.

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

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Coast Guard: Similarities in Texas, NJ hoax calls

  NEW YORK -- The Coast Guard believes there could be a link between a hoax distress call reporting a yacht explosion off New Jersey earlier this month and a mayday call in Texas last month, an official said Wednesday.

There's no guarantee it was the same man making the calls, but "enough similarities" in the voice and phrasings have led the Coast Guard to investigate the possibility, Capt. Gregory Hitchen said.

A voice expert has been analyzing the calls.

"The voices are indeed similar," the captain told a news conference.

The New Jersey hoax call came in around 4:20 p.m. on June 11. The caller claimed there were three dead, nine injured and 20 in the water off Sandy Hook, N.J.

Nothing was found, and authorities later determined the call came from land.

On May 20, the Coast Guard searched for six people reported missing after a mayday call saying they were abandoning their sinking fishing boat in the waters off Galveston, Texas.

Hitchen said similarities between the two calls include the fact that both came over a high-frequency channel to the Coast Guard "vessel traffic service," not the search and rescue center usually used for distress calls.

The caller in both cases said he was using a "beacon" to describe a hand-held automatic signaling device.

The captain said the caller used "unique language." In addition to words like "souls" describing those supposedly on board, the man in both calls said his antenna was down, and he therefore could not give a precise position. And in both cases, the Coast Guard was told that the people on board were getting into an orange life raft.

Hitchen said the cost to taxpayers of responses to false distress calls runs into thousands of dollars, at least. The "Blind Date" yacht rescue effort topped $300,000, he said. He had no immediate estimate for the Galveston rescue operations, which lasted 36 hours.

The captain said Coast Guard investigators noticed that details in the calls indicated the man "knew a lot about internal Coast Guard operations that you wouldn't find from a typical boater."

But he said he doesn't believe the perpetrator ever worked for the Coast Guard, because of terms like "souls" a mariner doesn't usually use.

Hitchen said all such hoaxes "divert assets from real emergencies."

During rescue efforts for the "Blind Date" hoax, there was one other distress call reporting a person in the water off Bayonne. The Coast Guard responded but found no one. They didn't have a problem mobilizing personnel because it was a small incident, but Hitchen said that if the agency had to respond to a more serious situation at the time, it would have been a scramble.

He said it's important the public be aware of these developments, "so we can generate new leads."

Without witnesses, Hitchen said it's very difficult to solve such cases, but hoax perpetrators "do brag about it in certain cases" -- and he hopes that might happen again.

If you have any information, you can call U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service at 212-668-7048 or 646-872-5774.

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

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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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Security guard accused of raping woman at bus terminal

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There are shocking allegations of a sexual assault at one of the city's busiest bus stations. A security guard who was in charge of keeping the peace is now accused of rape.

The pregnant bus passenger says she was raped in a back office. The attack took place inside a security office at the Greyhound bus station. Tyler Duhon claims the sex was consensual, but according to court documents, the injuries that the victim sustained to her private parts were not consistent with consensual sex.

"I was on my way to work this morning when I saw him get arrested," Barbara Brown said.

Brown is talking about her neighbor, Tyler Duhon, a commissioned security guard. The 29-year-old security officer is accused of raping a pregnant woman inside the security office at the Greyhound station where he worked. The unidentified woman was about to board a bus to Dallas in April when she got caught with a small amount of marijuana while passing through security and was turned over to Duhon.

According to court documents the woman begged the defendant to let her go, citing she was four months pregnant and had a young child at home. She told him she would do anything if he let her go.

Donna Hawkins with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said, "The defendant indicated he needed to do a strip search of her to look for more drugs, but he did in fact sexually assault her while they were alone."

This allegedly happened in a private security room. Prosecutors say the victim pleaded with Duhon not to touch her. His response, according to court documents, was, "Remember, I did you a favor, now you have to do me a favor. ... At least you can't get pregnant."

Prosecutors say afterwards Duhon let the woman go.

The woman who answered the door at the apartment where Duhon was arrested wouldn't identify herself.

The security company conducted its own investigation and fired him. The issued the following statement to Eyewitness News: "Top Gun Security Services on April 30 initiated an internal investigation upon first learning of the allegations against Tyler Duhon. Following our investigation, Mr. Duhon"s employment was immediately terminated.

Top Gun maintains the highest professional and ethical standards. We have a zero tolerance for any improper employee behavior. It is our strict policy to conduct criminal background checks on all new officers when they are hired. Mr. Duhon's background check came back clean at the time -- he had no prior criminal record. He was given and passed a drug test. And he passed a Texas and FBI background check before they issued him an armed security license.

We will have no further comment to make about the matter which is under criminal investigation by local law enforcement. Top Gun is fully cooperating with the investigation."
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Duhon is charged with sexual assault. He no longer works for 'Top Gun' security. Bail has been set at $30,000.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Guard robbed of gun outside SE Houston game room

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There were some frightening moments for a security guard in southeast Houston early this morning when he was attacked while taking a smoke break.

It happened outside a game room on Broadway near the South Loop. Police say the security guard was ambushed by several people. They took his gun and fired two shots at him, but missed. The group took off with the gun.

Authorities are still looking for the two men and that security guard's gun.

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

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Coast Guard searching for missing swimmer

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The search continues for a Houston man who disappeared in a rip current while swimming in Galveston.

The Galveston Beach Patrol received a call around 7:20pm about a man who went missing after going swimming with a woman near 29th and Seawall. The swimmer, who's been identified only as a 24-year-old African American male, and the woman got caught in the rip current. The woman was pushed on the rocks and the man went under. The female swimmer couldn't swim and the man wasn't a good swimmer either. The woman managed to climb on top of the rocks. The Coast Guard has dispatched its helicopter and boats to help Galveston Beach Patrol with the search. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Security guard fatally shot during theft

   FRESNO, TX (KTRK) -- Authorities are looking for information about a deadly shooting overnight.

At about 12:30am Wednesday, Fort Bend County Sheriff's deputies were called to J. D. Abrams, a construction site located in the 8400 block of FM 2234 in Fresno. They found a private security guard, Fidel Sanchez, 26, of Houston, who had been shot several times. He was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he died.

According to detectives, Sanchez responded to an alarm call at the site, discovered a major theft of construction materials in progress and was shot.

Fort Bend County detectives are requesting anyone with identifying details on the suspect or suspects, or circumstances surrounding this incident to please contact the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office at 281-341-4665 or Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281-342-TIPS (8477).

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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