HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A woman was shot by Harris County Sheriff’s deputies in her apartment as they were investigating the report of a burglary.
The 28-year-old woman was inside her apartment at the Pines of Woodforest on Uvalde Road. A neighbor called 911 early Saturday morning after hearing what sounded like someone breaking in. This turned out to be the tenant breaking into their own home after forgetting their keys.
When deputies responded, they saw the broken glass and then someone through the window with a gun, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s when two deputies started firing more than a dozen rounds, hitting the woman several times. A friend inside the apartment with her was not injured.
One of the biggest questions KPRC 2 has received is: How does this happen?
We asked law enforcement veteran turned professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, Dr. David Thomas.
Harris County deputies were on scene for a separate report of a burglary. After investigating that report, they turned their attention to this case. The neighbor downstairs, who called 911, advised them someone may have broken into the apartment above his.
“Quite frankly, because you have pretty much an eyewitness telling you that it’s someplace else, then your directed, your training, your common sense tells you that you need to go follow that, see what to what’s going on,” Dave Thomas said.
That’s exactly what they did, climbing the two flights of steps to the second floor.
Now remember: It’s just after 2 a.m. and the front window is already busted out by the tenant.
“Nine times out of ten, if I’m approaching that, I’m approaching with my gun drawn, which will be at the low ready, meaning at the counter pointing towards the ground,” Thomas said. “You got to look at it from the concept of being a law enforcement officer. Based on the nature of the information that they have it, it’s incumbent upon them to be ready to be able to respond to that. To be ahead of that curve.”
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says that the two deputies saw a woman through the window, armed with a gun.
This is after they identified themselves as law enforcement.
The man downstairs, who called 911, says he heard deputies identify themselves.
“I heard them knock on the door,” said Robert Mitchell. “Probably maybe four times. One, two, three, four. Sheriff’s Office.”
HCSO said deputies didn’t hear a response, just seeing the woman with a firearm. In response, the two deputies began shooting more than a dozen bullets.
“In my mind, in anybody’s mind, that would be on the other side of that door, meaning the law enforcement officer, they would have reason to believe that that person is probably the suspect,” Thomas said. “When you’re talking about the door now you’re talking about where offices don’t have any cover. So, it’s not like they have a car and they can get behind the car.”
The two deputies were seen running down the stairs after shooting. Their bullets sprayed the front of the apartment, striking the woman inside several times.
It’s only then that deputies found out that she lives here.
“I live here. Please don’t shoot. This is my home,” said the friend as she was ordered outside by deputies.
The woman shot was assisted down the stairs by paramedics.
“Remember. Take that first step and then sit down. I gotcha,” one parademic is heard saying in cell phone video of the incident.
So, is this shooting justified?
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation.
In the meantime, Thomas weighs in.
“It was justified. But it was, it was, it was it’s a tragedy. Okay. That should have never happened,” he said.
Could anything have been done differently to prevent this?
Thomas says anyone who’s not sure if the person knocking at their front door is actually law enforcement: pick up the phone and call 911.
The two deputies involved in this shooting are on paid leave, which is common for officer-involved shootings.
The victim has since been released from the hospital.