Family hopes surveillance video of River Oaks shooting will bring justice to loved one killed
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Family and friends of a man who was shot inside a historic River Oaks home last week want Houston police to conduct a thorough investigation.
Wesley Jermaine Gobert, 45, was shot on Wednesday, June 23, around 11:30 p.m. inside the home in the 1900 block of Larchmont.
In exclusive video obtained by ABC13 on Tuesday, Gobert is seen walking out of the home and then quickly back inside.
About three minutes later, he crawls out, clearly injured and having been shot. Gobert collapses behind a parked car, two police officers show up moments later, and Gobert was pronounced dead at a hospital after that.
"He's my best friend, my brother, I'm so hurt," said Christopher Wiggins, who grew up with Gobert. "He's a good guy."
Wiggins said family and friends knew Gobert had been dating a woman for several months. They disagreed with the initial reports that Gobert was "a friend of a friend" whom the woman allowed to stay at the house as a favor.
"Clearly this wasn't some Black guy who just came up and stayed there," said Wiggins. "This was somebody who actually lived there, who's actually in a relationship with this young lady."
On the night of the shooting, the woman told police that Gobert was an acquaintance and claimed she shot him after he became aggressive and wouldn't leave.
READ MORE: Woman shoots and kills 'aggressive' man at River Oaks home
Eyewitness News showed the video to former prosecutor and now defense lawyer Stephen Aslett. He said because the two people clearly knew each other, this is not a Castle Doctrine case.
"Castle Doctrine is typically when someone breaks into your house," said Aslett. "A stranger-breaking-into-the house-in-the-middle-of-the-night type of situation."
Aslett said the bottom line in this case is whether the shooting was done in self-defense and did the woman fear for her life? He points out that the video doesn't show what happened inside. It will be up to HPD detectives to determine whether a crime was committed or not.
"Finding out exactly what their relationship was - had they acted aggressively before? Were there ongoing issues between them? What did she initially tell the police? Did her story change? Did it make any sense? What, if any, physical evidence is in the house to suggest she feared for her life?" Aslett explained.
The numerous outstanding questions are exactly why all homicide cases go to grand juries in Harris County, Aslett said.
As for the woman, ABC13 is not identifying her because no charges have yet been filed. She is from a prominent San Antonio family. Court records in Bexar County show she has had several minor brushes with the law, including two DWIs and several charges of drug possession.
The attorney who represented her most recently on a dismissed Harris County charge did not wish to comment.
For Wiggins, he just hopes everyone involved cooperates truthfully with investigators.
"It's not about race ... Black or white, we just want justice. We just want fair justice," he said.
For more updates on this story, follow ABC13 reporter Miya Shay on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
