Mom Says She Told Police Not To Shoot Son

POSTED: 9:44 am CDT July 23, 2007

UPDATED: 9:48 am CDT July 23, 2007

HOUSTON -- The mother of a man shot to death by police said she begged officers not to shoot her son, KPRC Local 2 reported Sunday. Houston police said officers were called to a domestic disturbance on Foster Street near Hull Street at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Investigators said a son was threatening his mother with a knife. When officers arrived, Steven Guillory came out of the house with a large pipe that had a large piece of concrete on the bottom, officials said.

Officers said Guillory, 39, appeared to be agitated and was yelling at them. He started moving toward the officers in a menacing manor, police said.

An officer shocked Guillory with a Taser gun, but that did not subdue him, investigators said.

Police said the officers moved away and called for backup. Guillory then broke most of the windows and headlights on their patrol car, investigators said. Part of the pipe broke off.

When backup arrived, Guillory threw part of the pipe at officers and charged at other officers with the pipe, detectives said.

Investigators said the officers told Guillory to stop, but he refused. Fearing for their lives, officers T.J. Jackson and R.B. Wieners fired their guns.

"Before they fired the shot, I hollered at them, I told them, I said, 'My son is schizophrenic. Don't shoot him. He's bipolar. Please don't shoot him,'" mother Joycelee Guillory Ardoyn said. "I said, 'If ya'll gotta shoot him, shoot him in the leg.' They didn't listen to me. They shot him anyway."

Guillory was shot at least once and died at the scene.

"Anytime we lose life it's a tragedy," Capt. Bruce Williams said.

"This is a 39-year-old male who is no longer with us based on his own conduct."

Ardoyn and another witness said Guillory dropped the pipe when he was shocked by the Taser gun.

"I didn't see any stick or any weapons in his hand," Pastor Louis Jolivette said. "Immediately after that, we hear some shooting and seen the young man fell down in the middle of the road."

Community activist Quannel X questioned why officers specially trained to deal with the mentally ill did not respond to the scene. "Where is this crisis intervention team that Chief Hurtt says he will be implementing?" Quannel X asked. "It's one day too late, one life too short."

Investigators said the circumstances of the incident did not present an opportunity for the crisis intervention team to get involved.

"Responding officers exhibited incredible restraint by initially retreating from Guillory's deadly threat," police said in a written statement. "The Houston Police Department places the highest value on the preservation of life."

Detectives said an officer was wounded in the leg during the gunfire. Officer T.K. Richardson was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office and Houston Police Department Internal Affairs Division are reviewing the case.