It was roughly 10 p.m. when Houston Police Department officers responded to a call concerning a shooting. They arrived to find a 21-year-old man suffering multiple gunshot wounds.
He was treated by paramedics and transported to Ben Taub Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Officials then received another 911 call from a nearby location where the man who allegedly fired the fatal shots first contacted them from. Also a 21-year-old, he was taken into custody and officers found the weapon allegedly fired in the shooting incident.
The intended victim told investigators that he had just left a restaurant in downtown Houston when he spotted the man following him. The suspect was described as having an ice pick in his hand and approaching the man in an aggressive way.
The shooter said he felt threatened and produced his handgun. He then fired the shots that ultimately killed the man allegedly menacing him.
Further details were not disclosed initially, and it is unclear how the gun allegedly used in the shooting came to be in the possession of the police. What is clear is that the shooter needs a good attorney, and his fate is in the hands of the grand jury.
What the young man who reportedly approached him with an ice pick was thinking is anybody’s guess. If he truly intended to attack the man leaving the restaurant, he chose the wrong target — with fatal results.
Without more information, at first glance it appears to be a clearcut case of self-defense. It will be surprising if the grand jury decides that charges against the shooter are warranted, but stranger things have happened in cases where the innocence of the intended victim appears obvious.
