HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – When Harris County Sheriff’s deputies unloaded more than a dozen bullets into an apartment in East Harris County one man was as close to the gunfire as one could be.
Robert Mitchell lives right below the apartment where a 28-year-old woman was shot several times early Saturday morning along Uvalde Drive in the Timberwood neighborhood. He also happens to be the same person who called 911 after hearing glass breaking right above his home.
“I called 911 because I heard the. I heard the glass breaking,” Mitchell told KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding. “I thought maybe somebody was breaking in. You know, so I just wanted to make sure whatever was going on up there didn’t come down to my apartment because I just moved in. So, I didn’t want to be involved in that.”
When Mitchell says he just moved into the Pines of Woodforest apartments, he’s not lying. Friday was his first full day in his new home with his 2-year-old son.
“Hell of a night. Hell of a morning too. I haven’t even gotten to sleep here.”
Just a few hours before all of this unfolded right above his front door, Mitchell met the woman who was shot by deputies.
“I met the girl that stays up there. I met her yesterday,” he said. “I have a two year old son, and she has a three year old son. So, when I heard the glass breaking, I looked out the window to see what I could see.”
Moments after calling 911, deputies arrived. But here’s where the story takes a turn. They weren’t here for his call, rather another burglary call.
“When the cops showed up, I was expecting them to come to me, but they were like walking past me,” he said. “I kind of flag around like, yo, I just called. And she was like, no, we have a call for another situation.”
Mitchell said he explained to them what was going on.
“Well, based off of what I was telling them, they were scared or, you know, they were just, they didn’t know what to think because again they said that they had a call for somebody else,” he said.
Mitchell told deputies that whoever was upstairs was still there because he could hear them. When deputies headed up the stairs, he pulled out his phone to record.
“The cops got their guns drawn. So I know two things going to happen. Somebody’s going to come to the door with hands up or there’s going to be some shooting,” he said.
He said he heard them knock on the door and announce they were there.
“One, two, three, four. Sheriff’s Office,” Mitchell said he heard.
He said he heard no response.
Then when bullets started flying, he ran to go move his son to safety.
“I had to go back in and check on my son because I wanted him to be away. This is his room right here. And that’s just, you know, I just wanted him to be away from the window,” he said. “I also wanted to make sure the cops was all right, because they were, they were just so scared, and the situation was all over the place. And, I was real levelheaded, and I just. I knew somebody was up there.”
Recording the entire time, Mitchell says he heard well over a dozen gun shots.
“Yeah, I think like 17. I counted like 17, 18 shots,” he said.
Mitchell said after the shooting, it was a few minutes before he heard anything from upstairs.
“I didn’t hear nothing until maybe like two or three minutes after another cop showed up. And, you know, he was like sheriff’s office, you need to come outside with your hands up. Anybody in there? Come out now,” he said.
This time, a woman answered.
“That’s when she was like, oh, this is my apartment, right? This is my apartment. I stay here, I stay here, y’all shot my girlfriend,” he said.
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, deputies opened fire after seeing a woman approaching the front door holding a gun. The woman was taken to a hospital.
“Investigators later determined that the wounded female is a resident of the apartment and that she and another female had broken their own window to get inside because they did not have the apartment key,” the sheriff’s office said.
Per HCSO protocol, the two deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave.
The sheriff’s office said all evidence gathered in the investigation will be given to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for presentation to a grand jury.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting an independent investigation.
“The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Division is conducting an additional investigation. The results of this administrative investigation will be presented to the Sheriff’s Administrative Disciplinary Committee to determine if the deputies’ actions were in accordance with departmental policies and procedures,” the sheriff’s office said. “Per HCSO policy, relevant body worn camera video footage regarding this critical incident will be released within 45 days of its occurrence.”
Anyone with any information on this incident is urged to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at 713-221-6000.