Nearly five decades after Harris County Deputy Albert Ochoa Garza was shot while confronting a jewelry-store robbery, Houston is remembering the deputy whose final act unfolded on his 48th birthday. Garza was killed on July 30, 1979, and the anniversary is being marked Thursday by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and The 100 Club of Greater Houston.
Garza stepped in after a jewelry-store robbery began
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office memorial, Garza was working as a process server in the Courts Division and had stopped at a jewelry store in the 2600 block of Richmond Avenue to visit the owner. At about 5:45 p.m., two men entered asking to see rings, and the owner alerted Garza that something appeared wrong.
A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals opinion later described Garza approaching the counter after removing his coat so his badge and service weapon were visible. One of the robbers shot him as the store owner prepared a layaway ticket, after which the owner retrieved a gun and exchanged fire with the suspects.
The case stretched into decades of appeals
The robbery did not end with the gunfire inside the store. The Officer Down Memorial Page says the suspects fled toward New Orleans, where one was killed in a shootout with police and two others were arrested.
John Henry Selvage was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, while another suspect was convicted of aggravated robbery. A later 2012 court order confirmed that Selvage had died in prison on November 2, 2011, after years of state and federal appeals.
Garza remains part of Harris County’s fallen-hero record
The 100 Club memorial lists Garza as a Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy killed in the line of duty on July 30, 1979. Thursday’s remembrance post renewed attention to a case that began with a robbery at a Richmond Avenue jewelry store and ended with a deputy’s name added to the county’s roll of fallen heroes.
