Katy man given life sentence for shooting 3 family members, including his wife who died in 2021

Thursday, October 10, 2024

KATY, Texas (KTRK) -- A Katy man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting three family members, including killing his wife back in 2021.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office said 56-year-old Lawrence Reed was convicted by a jury of murder and sentenced to life on Oct. 3 for fatally shooting 36-year-old Valarie Junius at their house on July 29, 2021.

Reed was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault of a family member for shooting two others during the episode.

Attorneys described the chaotic domestic violence incident as a shooting rampage, injuring "three people that he claimed he loved."

He was sentenced to the maximum punishment of 20 years each for those two cases, which will run concurrently.

Prosecutors said it all started when his wife and children went on a trip to Chicago weeks before the deadly shooting.

When they returned from vacation, the family found a .40-caliber handgun and snuck it out of the house after Reed texted "strange messages" when he was alone.

The DA said the couple had been having marital problems leading up to the shooting.

According to the DA, on July 29, 2021, Reed wrote a card to his wife expressing how much he loved her.

Officials said Reed was texting her to come upstairs so she could read the card in front of him, but she made it clear she didn't want to.

Reed decided to come downstairs to confront his wife, who was visiting with her grandchild and 20-year-old daughter.

After speaking to his family briefly, he pulled a pistol out of his pocket and shot his 20-year-old stepdaughter in the chest.

That bullet hit her in the heart, both lungs and the liver, but she ultimately survived.

"That first shot sent everyone in the house into a panic. Reed's wife ran out the back door, and several children ran out the front door. Reed shot several more times in the house, wounding his wife, but she was able to continue to run away," the DA said.

Reed followed Junius and found her hiding near a neighbor's car with her 16-year-old son, who was shot twice and survived.

Prosecutors said the teen was holding his mother's arm when Reed fatally shot her.

At that point, all the children, except the 20-year-old daughter, were out of the house and running for their lives.

Neighbors came outside and began calling 911 and trying to help Reed's wife and children.

"One neighbor tried to perform CPR to save Reed's wife, but Reed came over with the gun, kicked the dead woman in the head, and told the neighbor that she was dead," the DA said.

One of her teen sons was also trying to help his mom, and Reed pointed the gun at him and told him to run away or face being shot as well, according to attorneys.

By the time Reed went back inside, deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office arrived. Reed barricaded himself in the house, saying that if anyone came in, he would shoot them.

The 20-year-old, who had been shot in the chest, was able to get up during the chaos and hid in a closet with her baby to call 911.

She was on the phone with them for 49 minutes before officers snuck her and the baby out of the house without Reed noticing.

She was taken to the hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery for her injuries.

During Reed's trial, witnesses testified that it was a miracle that the young mother did not die.

"He had absolutely murderous intent to kill everyone in that house and would have tried if they hadn't gotten the other gun out of there-he simply ran out of bullets," Assistant District Attorney Kelly Marshall said.

She noted that the kids behaved heroically during the shooting, and the first responders were also heroes who worked to save lives.

Reed and Junius had a blended family with a total of six children. The couple had an 8- and 4-year-old together, who were in the house during the shooting.

Reed was also stepfather to her four other children, who were 12, 16, 17 and 20.

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