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Houston security officer shot-killed www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
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A private security officer has been shot and killed in the city early this morning.
Police investigators said that the officer had just got off duty and was going to his vehicle when two Hispanic males approached him and a confrontation then took place.
One of the men pulled a handgun and shot the security officer several times in the torso and then stolen his 40 caliber weapon and fled.
Police said that the shooting occurred at a Latino restaurant where there has been some gang activity reported during the past few weeks.
Police are unsure what caused this incident but think the men may have known the security officer.
Police say that the suspects then fled in a red vehicle.
The name of the security officer has not yet been released.
Shoplifter shoots store manager, himself www.privateofficer.com
The shooting happened last night at the store on Highway 6 and Keith Harrow. Police say the shoplifter tried to get away with about $38 worth of meat.
Harris County sheriff’s deputies say two managers tried to stop the suspect. The suspect punched one manger in the face and then ran out of the store. A second manager tried to stop him in the parking lot
The suspect shot that manager in the hand, and as the two wrestled, he shot himself in the arm.
The suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital. None of the injuries are said to be life threatening.
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University of Houston student arrested for “thrill kill” www.privateofficer.com
It was a horrifying crime that intruded on an otherwise peaceful campus. Early on the morning of Feb. 7, passing students noticed that a man sleeping on a bus stop bench on the University of Houston central campus had been shot to death.
The discovery was made on a weekend when the campus was teeming with high school students attending a track meet, and many watched police examine the body behind a cordoned-off crime scene.
The victim, Joe David Tall, a 47-year-old drifter from the Northeast who had battled mental illness since he was a teenager, had been shot in the back of the head at close range.
Police on Thursday announced the arrest of a 32-year-old UH student, Jeremy Lee Pierce. He is charged with murder and remains in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday.
The arrest was a relief for students who have lived with a feeling of unease since the shooting.
“I was a little concerned because the guy got shot where I’m supposed to take the bus,” said David Woods, a 25-year-old pharmacy student who lives at the same apartment complex as Pierce. “I haven’t been taking the bus at all since then. It’s a relief.”
But while it ended speculation the slaying was part of a gang initiation rite or a spillover of violence from adjoining neighborhoods, the arrest failed to answer the real question of why. Investigators have not released a motive for the killing.
Several students spoke of what they termed Pierce’s “peculiar” behavior, describing how he often carried on loud conversations with himself and spent much of his time inside the fenced grounds of Cougar Place, a rambling student apartment complex of two-story buildings.
“He would lay out on the concrete sidewalk, like screaming things,” said Jasmine Hall, a 20-year-old junior who lives in the complex. “I had no idea what he was saying; I would go the other way. Ask around. Everybody noticed him.”
Hall said she did not feel threatened by Pierce, despite his behavior.
“I don’t think he was a violent person by nature,” she said. “I think he suffers from other issues.”
Another Cougar Place resident who had several classes with the suspect said Pierce once followed him and a friend to the campus gymnasium. When they finished their workouts, they noticed he followed them back to the apartment, he said.
“He was always walking around” alone on the grounds of the complex, said the student, who asked only to be identified as Jermaine. “One time, he walked in, talking to himself. His skin was bloodshot all over, and he appeared drunk.”
The student said he had several sociology classes with Pierce, who told him he had dropped all but one class. Eventually, he stopped going to class at all, the student said.
University police said Pierce was detained Wednesday after he was involved in a confrontation with two friends, fellow students, on campus. Police said he threatened the pair with a gun. During the subsequent investigation, officials said the two told police Pierce had admitted to them that he had killed the homeless Tall.
Brad Wigtil, assistant chief of the university Department of Public Safety, said HPD investigators interviewed Pierce and obtained a recorded statement in which he admitted to fatally shooting Tall.
Suspect’s past
Aside from recollections from fellow students, little was known about Pierce Thursday. He graduated from Galveston College last May with an associate of arts degree in general studies, college officials confirmed. According to public records, he was convicted in 2005 of burglary of habitation in Wichita County and sentenced to 205 days in jail.
In the wake of the arrest, University officials on Thursday tried to allay student fears about campus safety, issuing a press release noting the campus is equipped with more than 500 security cameras and patrolled by nearly 50 police officers and two dozen security guards.
“It’s frightening,” Hall said. “Being in this neighborhood, already you have to be on guard. You think you’d be safe on campus.”
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Wayna arrested at airport with police baton www.privateofficer.com
Wayna, whose real name is Woyneab Miraf Wondwossen, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon Wednesday.
Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said Thursday that security guards at the checkpoint at Bush International Airport discovered the 24-inch baton in her carry-on bag.
Wondwossen, 35, was transported to the Houston jail and posted $5,000 bond.
Wayna released her second album, “Higher Ground,” in 2008. One of the songs on the album is “Billy Club,” a ballad about police abuse, and Wondwossen twirls and points the baton when she performs the song live.
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Security officer shot during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Security officer shot during robbery http://www.privateofficer.com
Bullets shattered the windows across the front of the game room on Veterans Memorial at West Road. Police say the shots were fired from inside the building.
According to a customer who arrived seconds after the bullets stop flying at the Magic Game Room, the building had yet to open when this took place. The cleaning crew and the guard were the only ones inside.
Apparently the guard was looking at the security video and saw three suspects trying to break in through the back door. He told the crew to get down and then he confronted the suspects.
“They were taking out the trash. He said it was three Vietnamese (suspects) who came through with ski masks on and told him to lay down. He said no and started shooting,” explained a customer who didn’t want to be identified. “They started shooting back.”
The guard was wounded in the hand. He is in good condition. It unknown if any of the suspects were wounded. All three got away.
We are told there are cameras inside and outside of the building. However police have not indicated how much of the shooting may have been recorded.
If you have any information about this crime, you’re asked to give the Harris County Sheriff’s Department a call.
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OFF DUTY HOUSTON OFFICER SHOT MAKING ARREST www.privateofficer.com
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
OFF DUTY HOUSTON OFFICER SHOT MAKING ARREST www.privateofficer.com
Houston TX. Oct. 30, 2007
A man suspected of shooting a Houston police officer while he was being arrested was found dead in a field Sunday, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Police said Officer Victor Hill, who was not in uniform, arrested Eric Titov, 22, on suspicion of breaking into cars at the complex in the 18600 block of South Park View Drive near West Park View Drive at about 12:30 a.m.
Investigators said Titov, who was handcuffed, pulled out a gun and shot Hill in the chest.
Hill called for backup and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition.
Titov ran from the scene, detectives said. He was found dead in a field on Barker Cypress Road near Saums Road on Sunday afternoon. Police have not said how he died.
Titov had several credit cards and driver’s licenses that did not belong to him, detectives said. Hill has been with the Houston Police Department for 14 years.
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