3 dead when resident opens fire on suspected thieves in home invasion

A Houston man who said he was defending himself was questioned by police Saturday night after he fatally shot three people, two women and a man, who he said broke into his home with the intention of stealing it, police said.

Houston Police Department officers were called to the 10500 block of Hammerly Boulevard around 3:10 p.m. after receiving a call from an apartment resident who said “there were intruders and he had shot with a gun and shot them,” the police aide said. Chief Wyatt Martin during a press briefing. “We have no evidence that it’s false,” he later said.

The resident and shooter voluntarily left the apartment when authorities arrived about five minutes later and no use of force was necessary, Martin said.

“He came out, went to the police, told them there were burglars in his apartment and he had shot them,” Martin said, later adding: “When the police arrived, they found three people dead in this apartment.”

Authorities have not released information on the identities of the three people killed. But asked whether homicide investigators had determined a possible pre-existing relationship between the parties, Martin said no connection had been established.

“If we find out these are people he knows, that would change things,” he said.

Authorities said the apartment’s front door showed no signs of forced entry, but an interior door was ripped off its hinges. It was unclear whether this damage occurred during the burglary.

Martin said that even if “the individual claims self-defense…we still have a lot of investigating to do to determine what really happened.”

“Obviously, any time someone loses their life, it’s a tragic situation. We don’t have all the details yet on exactly what happened,” Martin said.

Authorities said they had raided the same apartment twice in the recent past. Once last year and once earlier this year, Martin said.

“I don’t know the precise nature of these calls. We are investigating all leads regarding this case. I wouldn’t want to speculate on motivations until we are able to actually interview the shooter,” Martin said. . He then added that the previous two calls “did indeed have a mental health component, yes”.

Despite the claim of self-defense, Martin said the investigation would proceed the same way as any other fatal shooting.

“As in any situation like this where someone loses their life, we will examine him, take him downtown, take his statements, document everything that happened here and talk to any witnesses that we can find,” Martin said.