HPD officers shoot and kill man after chase and crash in northeast Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston police shot and killed a man who led them on a chase and then crashed into one of their patrol cars in northeast Houston on Wednesday evening.

Police said the man is also accused of threatening children with a gun.

ABC13 talked to a witness who saw the whole thing play out.

A woman told police her boyfriend was driving her car after they went to pick up her two small children. She said he started accusing her of having someone else in the car and pointed a gun at her two children.

The woman told her boyfriend to stop the car, according to HPD. She and the two children got out, and the man drove away on Lera Street.

The witness said she was in front of her house when she saw a black Tahoe pull up just before 8 p.m. The driver was yelling at the woman, waving a gun around, the witness said.

She told ABC13 she knew she had to help. She took the kids and mom into her home and called police as the man took off, but she said she was terrified he'd come back.

"I thought it was my duty to help her. Especially when I saw those little girls. They were screaming and crying and trying to cling onto her," the witness said. "We grabbed the kids first and brought them inside, and my daughter helped her get off the ground."

The man did come back.

After HPD showed up to the home on Lera Street, they said the man drove by and sped off.

That's when the short chase began. When a second officer joined the pursuit, police said he and the suspect crashed into each other head-on on Cheeves Drive.

The officer reportedly told the suspect to get out of the SUV.

Investigators said when the suspect got out, he was holding a gun in a "threatening manner."

That's when the two officers shot him. Police said it's unclear if the man fired his own gun. The investigation is ongoing.

"I do not know that he actually fired any rounds. That's still part of the investigation," Executive Chief Larry Satterwhite said. "What we have so far -- the video we've been able to see so far -- I can't tell that he fired any rounds. That doesn't mean he didn't, because there were multiple shots fired. I just don't know at this time."

The man reportedly ran westbound on Heath Street before he eventually collapsed to the ground.

HPD said after the man was shot, as they were trying to detain him and provide first aid, he continued to fight the officers.

The officers were eventually able to apply multiple chest seals and tourniquets to the suspect.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died.

The officers' body camera video will be released within 30 days, according to HPD.

The suspect who was killed was a Black man, and the two officers who fired their weapons are white, police said.

Both officers are on administrative leave while the investigation continues, as is standard HPD policy.

Satterwhite said the officer involved in the head-on collision was later taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in stable condition after "feeling the effects" of the crash.

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