Investigators Sorting Fact from Fiction in Fatal Chase

Man Fatally Shot by Police Claimed to be CIA Agent

Last Edited: Thursday, 01 May 2008, 10:17 AM CDT

Created: Thursday, 01 May 2008, 10:12 AM CDT

HOUSTON -- Two days after a man was fatally shot following a police chase through Houston, investigators are still trying to determine who the man was and if really worked for the CIA or as a national intelligence officer.

Family members on Wednesday invited FOX 26 News inside the home of a man who claimed to work for the CIA and who was fatally shot at the end of a police chase earlier this week.

Relatives said Roland Carnaby, a 52-year-old Lebanese man who lived in Pearland with his wife of 11 years, was a secret federal agent for the FBI and CIA despite local and federal authorities not being able to verify that claim.

"There was no record of him being an employee of the FBI or CIA," Houston Police Department Chief Harold Hurtt said Wednesday.

Officials with the FBI and CIA also said that Carnaby did not work for them, even though Carnaby had pictures of himself with former Secretary of State James Baker and Hurtt.

"I've taken pictures with probably another thousand Houstonians in the last four years," Hurtt said.

Carnaby was pulled over Tuesday for speeding and then led police on a chase. He was fatally shot after officers said they thought he reached for a gun.

"One of the officers, on the passenger side, saw the suspect reach down and make an obvious and overt movement underneath the seat. Fearing for his safety, he fired the weapon one time," HPD Sgt. John Chomiak said.

A second officer also opened fire but it is not clear how many times Carnaby was shot. Carnaby, dressed in a suit, died on the way to the hospital.

Investigators initially only found a cell phone but then said they discovered two pistols and a shotgun inside Carnaby's sport utility vehicle. They said one was in the suspect's reach when the officers shot him.

"At any one time, he's got three or four shotguns, two guns on him, a knife," said Alan Helfmen, owner of the River Oaks Chrysler dealership and one of Carnaby's good friends. "I'd like to believe that he would not have tried to shoot somebody. That's not his mentality."

Helfman said Carnaby told people he was a CIA agent or some kind of national intelligence officer. He said Carnaby donated large amounts of money to HPD fundraisers, was highly intelligent, spoke seven languages and was the president of the Houston branch for the Association For Intelligence Officers.

"He thought he was one of them ... or maybe one of them with a little higher pecking order," Helfman told FOX 26 News.

Helfman said he met Carnaby a dozen years ago when the man showed up at his dealership to buy a vehicle. The two quickly became good friends, sharing a love of cars and law enforcement.

The black Jeep Commander Carnaby was driving is registered to the National Security Command Center.

Federal credentials were also found inside the SUV but investigators are still trying to determine if the identification is real.

"We don't know. They could've been made up," HPD Homicide Capt. Steve Jett said.

Relatives said they have plenty of proof that Carnaby was CIA, including an autographed book from, they say, his very close friend, former CIA Director George Tenet.

However, plaques, paperwork and the people who love him say one thing: the truth seems to be just as much of a mystery as Carnaby himself.

HPD officials said they are questioning officers about why medical attention was not given to Carnaby after he was shot and before paramedics arrived.

The two officers that fired their guns have nearly 40 years of law enforcement experience combined. Officials within the police department's internal affairs and homicide divisions, along with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, are investigating the shooting.