HOUSTON – John Gray returned home from a trip the night of Nov. 23, 2022. Shortly after going to sleep, he recalls waking up to someone knocking on his door and ringing the doorbell.
“I normally don’t get awaken at 11 o’clock at night,” Gray said. “[I] picked up a weapon and walked out into my family room area.”
As soon as he made his way to the family room area towards his backyard, he remembers seeing several flashlights.
“I got hit in the face with a very bright light, couldn’t see who was out there. Couldn’t see how many people were out there,” he said. “So, since I didn’t know who it was, I raised my weapon like this just to show them that I was armed and hopefully deter them from coming into my house.”
Unbeknownst to him, on the other side of the flashlights were Houston police officers responding to a silent alarm at Gray’s home. He learned later his alarm system was malfunctioning when the alarm went off.
Gray shared with KPRC 2 his surveillance video from the night. It appears to show one Houston police office notice the weapon and move to the side of the house. Gray said he heard two shots fired.
“Boom. Boom. In fairly quick succession everything went quiet, so I walked to my front door,” he said.
Once outside, he saw the several officers with their patrol lights on.
In a video HPD released shortly after the incident, an officer is heard asking Gray why he had a weapon.
“You can’t walk to us and point a gun at us, sir,” the officer said.
“I didn’t know who it was,” Gray responded.
The 81-year-old is now requesting the department share footage of the moments when the officer fired into his home.
“One shot went through the glass, through the curtains, and landed in the ceiling in my family area directly above where I was standing,” Gray said. “I could have been killed if the angle or trajectory could have been lower it may have hit me.”
HPD did release portions of the incident, but Gray said the body camera footage of the officers in his backyard is not included.
Gray and his attorney JL Carpenter shared with KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun documents showing the efforts the duo made trying to get the footage.
“I worked with the sergeant in charge, but I kept getting blocked,” Carpenter said. “I went through the AG’s Office they said, ‘Turn it over.’ We still don’t have it.”
A spokesperson for HPD tells Balogun they did receive the Attorney General Office’s rulings on the video. However, it’s unclear when the footage will be given to Gray because the department is ‘overwhelmed’ with requests.
“He’s not trying to call anybody out. He’s not trying to sue. He doesn’t want money. He’s not asking for damages. He wants to know why,” Carpenter said.
“I could have been killed,” Gray said. “I was very lucky I wasn’t. Hopefully that will help in the future to understand what I shouldn’t do and should do. And maybe, as you indicate, show other people how to act in a similar condition.”