HOUSTON – A plain-clothes deputy who was on duty Wednesday shot and killed a man in southwest Harris County, according to officials.
The shooting was reported about 6 a.m. on East Ritter Circle near McLain Boulevard.
Investigators said the incident began when a neighbor approached a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy in plain-clothes and in an unmarked car who was working as a member of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force. The deputy was in the neighborhood with other task force members looking to capture a capital murder suspect from Mesquite.
Detectives said the neighbor knocked on the deputy’s vehicle window and showed a flashlight and pistol, then the deputy rolled down the window, and words were exchanged. When the neighbor lowered the flashlight and raised what appeared to be a gun, the deputy opened fire, striking the neighbor once, according to detectives who said the neighbor ran down the street and died in his car. Investigators later determined the weapon the man was holding was not a real firearm.
Neighbors told KPRC 2 the man that was killed was shot outside a home he was watching for another neighbor that’s in the hospital.
Another neighbor said that the home may have been broken into recently, so the deceased man was on high alert.
Preliminary info: A deputy in plain clothes was on duty in the 15100 block of E Ritter Circle when a male approached the deputy with a gun. The deputy shot the male, who fled a short distance before collapsing dead. The deputy is unharmed. PIO is en route. #hounews pic.twitter.com/zj3Qd6koZT
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) April 22, 2020
The deputy was not injured.
This is a developing story.