The father was shot dead around 6:20pm Wednesday, but the shooting was the climax to a series of events that began unfolding two hours earlier.
Police say around 4:35pm, neighbors called police when they heard the father, 34-year-old Kenny Montgomery, fighting with a woman at an apartment complex in the 2900 block of South Gessner.
By the time police arrived, the situation had quickly escalated. The woman was holding the baby, and Montgomery was holding a large butcher knife.
When officers forced their way into the unit, the woman dropped the baby and ran outside. That's when Montgomery scooped up the child and backed his way into the bathroom. Officers tried to calm down the man for more than an hour but it wasn't working.
"In one hand, he has a crack pipe that he is lighting and smoking. And in the other hand, he is holding the baby, who is 1 year of age, with a knife to the baby and various parts of the baby's body," HPD Spokesman John Cannon said. "Once he put it to the baby's throat, that's when one of our officers fired his weapon."
Police say Montgomery was shot at least once. They say the woman is an acquaintance of his, but neighbors tell Eyewitness News that she may have been trying to steal from him.
Police say the baby's mother was inside the complex at the time, but wasn't inside the apartment during the shooting.
The officer who shot the father has been identified as a 10-year veteran of the Houston Police Department.
No one else was injured in the shooting.
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