Family outraged over fatal shooting

Chief Hurtt says officers 'stop the threat'

(1/08/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - A police shooting on the southeast side left one man dead and a family grief-stricken. The victim's relatives say the use of deadly force was unnecessary, but police say they had no choice.

Police were called to a domestic disturbance at a home on Curtin near Delmar in southeast Houston Sunday night. Family members say that Omar Esparza, 21, was agitated and may have been off his medication.

Police say he had a hammer and they used beanbag rounds and a Taser gun after he acted in a threatening manner and charged at them with the hammer held over his head.

Esparza's family members waited outside during the incident. They heard several gunshots, but they say it took police several hours to tell them that Esparza had been fatally shot.

"Stop the threat, and whatever that takes, it is easier for us to make sure that we hit our target by shootings to the mass," said Chief Harold Hurtt. "This is not the wild west or the old west where the sheriff shoots the gun out of the individual's hand."

Chief Hurtt said he can't comment specifically on Sunday night's shooting because he doesn't have all the facts yet. Meanwhile, the victim's family says the deadly force was unnecessary.

"They said that they didn't hurt him. That he was OK," said the victim's sister Adrianna Valle. "That he wouldn't tell us what had happened."

"When did you find out that they had killed him," we asked her.

"Till late at night," she said.

Family members say that Esparza showed no signs of violence, but police say they tried to diffuse the situation as best they could peacefully.

Police officers were the only ones inside the house with the victim at the time of the incident. An investigation is underway.

The officer who fired the fatal shot is a six-year veteran of the force.

 

(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)