Houston Police Department has confirmed that five of their narcotics officers were injured around 5 p.m. on Jan. 28 while attempting to serve a search warrant at a Gloverdale residence in the city’s southeast.
Four officers were shot and one injured while serving as part of a team of “about a dozen narcotics officers and half a dozen patrol officers.” The officers were visiting the residence as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation, police chief Art Acevedo told media outside Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center just after 7:30 p.m. local time.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner wrote in a Twitter post just after the shooting that a suspect in the shooting has been confirmed dead at the scene.
Suspect in the HPD shooting is down. st
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) January 28, 2019
Police also confirmed on Twitter that one suspect had died at the scene of the shooting.
We can confirm one suspect is DOA at the scene. SWAT is actively working to make sure there is no one else inside the location at 7800 Harding. Continue to avoid [the] area.
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) January 29, 2019
Acevedo was able to confirm during the press conference that two shooters had been engaged in the shooting and that both of the suspects had since been found dead at the scene.
Acevado said that a SWAT team that was called to entered the residence using robots was able to confirm that the suspects had been struck by return gunfire.
All four officers have been confirmed to be in a stable condition, although two of the officers were in critical condition undergoing surgery at the time of the press conference. Acevado emphasised that despite their critical condition, both officers were stable, asking that the community support the officers and their families with their prayers.
Police said on Twitter all four officers were being cared for at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. One officer was airlifted to the hospital after the shooting.
Houston Police Officers’ Union President Joe Gamaldi asked separately in a Twitter post that the public to support the officers and their families with their thoughts and prayers.
3 of our officers are currently stable, 2 are still critical please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
Please no names on social media at this time.
— Joe Gamaldi (@JoeGamaldi) January 29, 2019
Praying for the 5 officers have been struck and transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital, Medical Center in Houston Texas. They were serving a warrant. Enough is enough! #BackTheBlue ????????????. pic.twitter.com/a5f9qCi6da
— JamieR {????} Army Girl ⭐⭐⭐ (@Jamierodr10) January 29, 2019
Police are also urging members of the public not to release the names of the injured officers.
Police have confirmed that the SWAT team has already finished sweeping the residence where the shooting occurred for any remaining occupants. They have declared that the surrounding area in the neighborhood is safe for residents to reenter.
The location is still an active crime scene but locals are now being allowed to return to the area around 7800 Harding Street, according to local media coverage.
“This all began because a neighbor had the courage to say, ‘We’re not going to put up … we think that they’re dealing dope out of this house,'” Acevedo said at the press conference.
“We immediately passed that on to our narcotics division that began this investigation. [They were] able to actually determine that street-level narcotics dealing, black tar heroin, was being dealt out of this, and we know the poison that’s killing so many kids, not just here but also around the country.
“They immediately started an investigation and that’s why there were there tonight.
“What you saw today were these officers showing that they have the courage, the guts, and the perseverance to do what they need to do to keep this community safe,” he said.
One neighbour told a reporter with local news channel KHOU 11 she had heard multiple gunshots from inside of her home before seeing all the first responders arrived.
“It’s a very close neighbourhood, we take good care of each other, and it’s been peaceful for the past couple of years … nothing like this,” she said.
