According to police, Officer J. Parker was on his way to work when he was shot on Gessner at Hempstead Highway in northwest Houston around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Investigators say it all unfolded when a young man got out of his vehicle and shot into the officer's car multiple times, leaving the officer's personal vehicle riddled with bullet holes.
HPD Chief J. Noe Diaz said Parker, who was in uniform, returned fire.
After the officer was hit in the shoulder, authorities say he drove himself less than half a mile away to the HPD substation on Teague for help. That's where officers began treating his wound before the fire department took him to Memorial Hermann Medical Center, officials said.
Chief Diaz said they used resources on the ground and in the air to take three people into custody.
"A very savvy Hedwig Village police officer listened to the radio callout of the description of the vehicle. When that occurred, she entered the description into a license plate reader and developed a vehicle that was involved in the shooting. From there, she followed that vehicle into southwest Houston, notifying our teams as to where the vehicle was," Diaz said.
The chief said they did recover the firearm used when taking those people into custody.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire and local officials said they're frustrated these types of road rage incidents continue to take place across the city.
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"So again -- let me just emphasize -- this is a reminder of the dangers our police officers face on a daily basis," Whitmire said.
"We have way too many incidents like this. This officer is just driving to work, in uniform, and somebody gets so mad over -- either cut off in traffic, or failed to signal, or something like that -- that they're going to try to take a life over it. That's completely insane," Doug Griffith, with the Houston Police Officers' Union, said.
Diaz said Officer Parker is in high spirits and recovering at the hospital with his family.
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