HOUSTON – Ambulances called to the scenes of two different, officer-involved shootings, within 45 minutes of each other Thursday night.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo is voicing his concerns.
“We are very concerned about the increase in officer-involved shootings. This is the eighth officer-involved shooting in just a couple of weeks. This should be a concern for everybody,” Acevedo said.
The first shooting taking place at 6301 Dumfries in southwest Houston just before midnight.
A five-year veteran, gang unit officer was chasing a suspect that he had already tried to stop several times when the officer noticed the suspect had a gun in his hand as he was running.
Acevedo said when the man turned to face the officer, that officer opened fire, shooting the suspect multiple times.
“As the officer is running he’s ordering the suspect several times to drop the pistol, drop the pistol,” he said.
Acevedo said when the suspect suddenly turned and faced the officer with the gun in his hand, that officer shot him.
The suspect was taken to the hospital, the officer was unharmed.
The second shooting
The second shooting occurred just before 12:30 a.m. at 7121 Cullen and involved a uniformed HPD officer that the department said was attacked from behind by a man wielding a large steel bar.
It happened during a traffic stop at the 24/7 gas station on Cullen Boulevard.
Acevedo said the officer was attempting to search the car of two men he had stopped.
He said all was peaceful and then suddenly a man with no connection to the traffic stop at all suddenly ran up to the officer and hit him from behind on the head with a steel pole or bar.
Acevedo said when the officer turned, the man with the bar attempted to hit him again and that is when the officer fired hitting that man.
Both the officer and the man with the bar were transported to the hospital.
The officer was treated and released. The suspect remains in the hospital. Both shootings are under investigation.