Teenager dead, man hurt in 2 separate car burglary-related shootings on Houston's westside, HPD says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A 17-year-old was killed, and another man was seriously injured in two separate shootings on Houston's westside that both started with 911 calls about people breaking into cars, according to police.

Houston police are still looking for the suspects in both cases.

Westmead Drive

The first shooting happened around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. HPD was called to an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Westmead Drive, not far from South Dairy Ashford Road.

Police said the initial report was that a man was breaking into vehicles in the parking lot, and there was a shooting.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a Dodge Charger in the middle of one of the driveways at the complex. Inside the Charger, they found a 17-year-old who had been shot to death.

After further investigation, police learned the teenager was meeting someone at the complex.

"Right now, we're looking for witnesses. We are looking for surveillance video," Lt. Larry Crowson said.

The apartment complex has a number of security cameras in the parking garage, but so far, the complex is not sharing the video publicly.

Investigators were still working to track down the suspect.

Westheimer Road

Just over an hour later, at about 10:15 p.m., police were called to the 88twenty Apartments at 8820 Westheimer Rd. near Fondren Road.

Police said a 29-year-old security guard was patrolling the complex parking garage when he saw at least one person breaking into vehicles.

The security guard confronted them, and the suspect fired several times at the guard -- hitting him in the arms, legs, and abdomen before taking off, HPD said.

"There were several shots fired," Lt. J.P. Horelica said. "Unknown if the security fired any shots, but the suspect fired multiple shots and struck the victim."

Police said the security guard was taken to the hospital in critical condition and was undergoing surgery.

Witnesses told police they saw three men leaving the area in a car after the shooting, and a fourth man running away from the complex. Multiple vehicles parked in the garage were hit by gunfire, HPD said.

2022 shooting at 88twenty Apartments

This isn't the first time there's been a shooting at the west Houston apartment complex.

Last year, a man identified as 33-year-old Gonzalo Lauzurique Garcia was found dead in the parking lot on Feb. 21.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the suspect in Garcia's death.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

READ MORE: Police offer reward as they search for suspect(s) wanted in deadly shooting on Westheimer Road

Car break-ins are part of a much larger issue. While officials have touted a decrease in violent crime, the same can't be said for car thefts and break-ins.

Using the ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker, we tracked the top five areas with the highest number of reported car break-ins.

Number one, the highest number of car break-ins happened in and around the Fourth Ward area. Over the last 12 months, there have been 1,410 car break-ins.

At number two, in the Memorial Park area, there were 987 car break-ins reported in the last 12 months.

Then we have the Galleria and Tanglewood areas, with 985 reported break-ins in the last 12 months.

Next, the Post Oak Park area had 827 car-break-ins

Lastly, the Richmond Strip area had 778 break-ins.

Overall, citywide, there have been more than 28,000 thefts from motor vehicles over the last 12 months. That's up 8% from 2022, and it's up 3% from the average number over the last four years (2019-2022).