Houston police are currently investigating a fatal shooting involving an Houston Police Department officer and an armed suspect that took place at 7800 Hammerly Boulevard last Friday afternoon. The incident, which unfolded around 3:40 p.m., resulted in the death of a 64-year-old male whose identity has yet to be confirmed by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, according to a statement obtained by the Houston Police Department.
The officer involved, identified as K. Gideon of the Northwest Patrol Division, reportedly responded to a call regarding a trespasser who was refusing to leave the property of a nearby business strip; the suspect was said to have earlier assaulted a security officer with a bat, which led to the subsequent police confrontation, the altercation began when the suspect confronted officers wielding a baseball bat and failed to obey verbal commands in both English and Spanish. The Houston Police Department's Special Investigations Unit Detectives A. Henderson and K. Vu noted that the suspect, equipped with a bat and concrete rock, aggressively advanced towards the officers which precipitated the shooting.
Officer Gideon, who joined the force in October 2022, was unharmed during the incident. Attempts to subdue the suspect with Conducted Energy Devices were unsuccessful, leading to the fatal response when the suspect posed a more imminent threat, the man, while brandishing the bat in one hand, picked up a rock with the other, and reportedly charged towards the officers, prompting one of them to discharge their weapon multiple times, resulting in the suspect's death, as paramedics from the Houston Fire Department pronounced him deceased at the scene, as reported by the Houston Police Department.
As with all officer-involved shootings in Houston, this case is being investigated by the Houston Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, Internal Affairs, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. These investigations are standard and meant to carefully review what happened and how the officers acted.
