Officer shoots suspect in SW Houston drugstore robbery

By DALE LEZON

Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

April 6, 2009, 6:48AM

A Houston police sergeant shot and wounded a man suspected of an armed robbery of the CVS drugstore at Fondren and Beechnut in southwest Houston overnight.

A Houston police officer shot an armed robbery suspect outside a pharmacy in southwest Houston early this morning.

The suspect was running in the dimly-lit parking lot of a CVS pharmacy at 7102 Beechnut after the robbery when Houston police Sgt. K.E. Smith saw a “silhouette” of a gun in his hand and fired several shots, hitting him once in the rear end, said John Cannon, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department.

Cannon said the suspect, whose name has not been released, was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital with a non-life threatening wound.

No other shots were fired and no other injuries were reported. Police found bags of cash and merchandise and a revolver on the ground beside the wounded man.

The suspect is expected to be charged with aggravated robbery later.

“The sergeant was in fear of his life once he saw that silhouette,” Cannon said. “He wasn’t going to take any chance of that guy turning and firing at him.”

Police said the suspect brandished a revolver as he entered the store about 1:45 a.m. He ordered a clerk to put money from the cash register into bag and told a customer in the store to fill another bag with merchandise.

Cannon said both women complied with the suspect’s demands. But a third employee, in the back of the store, apparently remained unseen and telephoned 911 to report the robbery. Smith and other officers arrived within minutes

The suspect left the store with the bags by a side door and fled into the parking lot about 2 a.m., when he was shot.

“Fortunately the two women followed the advice we give,” Cannon said. “Comply with demands when someone is threatening you with a gun or other weapon or (making) other threats.”

As is customary when an officer shoots a suspect, the Houston Police Department Internal Affairs Division as well as the Harris County District Attorney’s Office will investigate the case.

dale.lezon@chron.com