HPD struggles to determine who is suspect or victim in zoo parking lot dispute that led to shooting

Pooja Lodhia Image
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Houston Zoo parking lot shooting: No charges filed after woman was shot by security guard during argument over spot, police say
A woman who was shot by a security guard outside the Houston Zoo on Friday is home from the hospital, but so far no charges have been filed.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman who was shot by a security guard outside the Houston Zoo on Friday is home from the hospital and sharing her side of the story with ABC13.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office District Attorney is still investigating the incident, but no charges have been filed against anybody involved.

ORIGINAL STORY: 2 security officers open fire on woman who assaulted man over parking spot at Houston Zoo, HPD says

Diamond Hunter's four young kids were in the car when she was shot multiple times.

"I got one in the head, and then one in the cheek, and I have fragments all over my chest," Hunter explained while showing her bullet wounds.

Hunter said it all started on Friday afternoon after she got into an argument with another driver over a parking spot outside the Houston Zoo.

She said a man hit her 2-year-old, but in the video, the man claims she assaulted him.

They both called security.

"I told him, 'Hey, I'm going to go around the parking lot and I'm going to park on the side.' He said, 'alright,' and he called for backup, that's what I'm thinking," she said. "As I'm pulling out, (5 mph), a car stops and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' So, I go around and somebody jumped in front of the car like this, so I swerved. When I swerved, the one that was on the scene, [was] the one that shot me dead in the head."

The Houston Police Department said a security guard started shooting into the car after Hunter hit him with her car.

Both Hunter and the guard were taken to the hospital.

"When I picked my kids up, they had their mom's blood all over them. All over them," Oscar Chappel, the father of Hunter's children, said.

Police say they are still investigating, and at this point, they don't know who is a victim and who is a suspect.

Hunter said she hasn't heard from any investigators.

"He didn't care about no kids in the car. I don't understand how somebody like that could just sit on their couch and be OK with that," Hunter said. "I feel like I'm dead. I keep picturing me getting shot over and over again."

"You guys don't give the right proper training to the people you guys put guns in hands and badges on," Chappel added. "A gun and a badge does not make you a man. It does not make you above the law."

According to a spokesperson for the Houston Zoo, the parking lot is managed, maintained, and owned by the City of Houston.

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