City officials weigh in on officer-involved shooting of wheelchair-bound double amputee

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- City officials are now weighing in on the fatal shooting of a mentally and physically disabled man at the hands of police.

At the group home where the deadly shooting occurred is a note saying people inside would no longer talk about what happened over the weekend. But community activists are just beginning their crusade.

"I'm sick and tired of the same old thing from our police departments here in Houston. We want some action, we want the truth, we want the secrecy stopped. We want to see everything being done in this case, future cases, and past cases," said Arlene Kelly with Civilians Down.

Civilians Down is a local organization that focuses on police-related shootings. She and others with the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice called for an outside investigation into the shooting that killed wheelchair-bound double amputee Brian Claunch.

"Things do get dangerous, things do get stressful, but you have to stop and think, you have to use good judgement," said Sylvia Gonzalez with LULAC.

But at City Hall on Wednesday, elected officials asked for restraint. Mayor Annise Parker says for now she doesn't know exactly why a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officer wasn't on scene.

"I don't know why a CIT officer was not dispatched," said the mayor.

Council members pointed out the FBI is already monitoring the investigation, and they urged patience.

"Until an investigation is complete, we simply don't know what happened, and I would encourage us to, for the benefit of the victim's family, for the benefit of officers in our city, let investigations run their course," said Council Member C.O. Bradford.

The mayor said she has a meeting with Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland at the end of the week to further discuss the shooting.

Since the first of this year, there have been 22 officer-involved shootings in Houston. That's compared to 15 in all of last year. Of those 22 officer-involved shootings this year, ten suspects or citizens were killed, 13 were injured, and three officers were wounded.

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

houston police department, local, miya shay

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Security experts weigh in on armored truck robbery

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's been more than 24 hours since gunshots rang out in the parking lot of the Kroger in the Heights and an armored van was stolen.

We're still waiting for details on how much money was stolen in the heist, and police have not released much information about the suspect. But there are questions about what went wrong, and how the suspect was able to take control of the van.

As the investigation continues, some security experts we spoke with are curious about the outcome.

It happened in broad daylight Tuesday in front of witnesses -- an armored van and its two armed guards stopped at a Kroger Fuel Center and overtaken by what police were told was a lone gunman.

"It looked like he was shooting at the van. He wasn't trying to shoot out everywhere. He just focused on the armored truck," said one eyewitness.

The van and all the money it contained were hijacked and recovered one street away at an apartment complex. The robber was said to have left in a blue Chrysler PT Cruiser. The heist was big news certainly in the security world.

"It's very seldom that an armored vehicle gets taken," said Sergeant Glenn Anderson with BP International Security Training.

BP International is in the business of training those who want to be security guards and that includes working as armored car guards. What baffles Sgt. Anderson is why the armored car guards from Tuesday's robbery appeared to both be out of the truck and vulnerable to a robber. Usually, we're told, a driver always stays in the vehicle.

"It's very seldom that the officer inside the truck is going to get robbed unless there are high-powered assault rifles involved and explosives involved like you might see on your little TV shows. But it has to be a well-synchronized robbery in order for you to get the truck," said Sgt. Anderson.

As for the stolen armored van, it's now back at Triple D Security, bullet holes and all. We attempted to speak to the company office, but they told us no one was available.

It's unknown for now whether one guard left the van to protect his partner who may have been threatened by the gunman at the time. All of that will be part of the FBI investigation, according to a spokesperson.

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

heights, local, deborah wrigley

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