KTRK-TV Houston, TX
Houston Tx - HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston police shot and killed a wheelchair-bound man Saturday morning at a group home for the mentally ill, officials said.
It happened at around 2:30am at Healing Hands group home on Polk at Sidney, just southeast of downtown Houston.
Police said the suspect -- an amputee with one arm and one leg -- was in his wheelchair at the time of the shooting, but was able to move freely.
Investigators said they arrived at the home to find the suspect waving something in his hand.
After being ordered several times to drop the object, police said the suspect refused and allegedly cornered one officer.
That's when the other officer, reportedly fearing for his partner's life, shot the man once in the head. He died at the scene.
"They both attempted to separate the suspect from the officer, but the suspect continued to swing this object at both officers, so that's when the officer discharged his weapon," HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva said.
Several other residents were inside the home at the time of the shooting.
The owner of the facility, John Garcia, told us the overnight caretaker felt threatened and called 911 because the man began behaving erratically when the caretaker denied his request for a soda.
Garcia said the man, whose identity has not been released, lived in the house for about 18 months and was and schizophrenic and had bipolar disorder. He lost his arm and leg after being hit by a train years ago, he said.
According to Garcia, the man often doodled on paper and the object he had in his hand when he was allegedly threatening police was a pen.
Police said the shooting will be investigated by HPD's internal affairs department as well as the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
HPD identified the officer as M. Marin, a five-year veteran of the department. As is standard in all officer-involved shootings, Marin was immediately placed on three-day administrative leave.
According to the Associated Press, HPD records indicate that Marin also fatally shot a suspect in 2009. "Investigators at the time said Marin came upon a man stabbing his neighbor to death at an apartment complex and opened fired when the suspect refused to drop the knife," AP reported.
