Deputies shoot axe-wielding man

Deputies shot a man inside a home after they say he swung a four-foot-long axe at them

Monday, July 07, 2008 | 6:41 PM

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man has been shot by sheriff's deputies during an altercation at a home in northeast Harris County.

Shortly after 2pm, deputies were called to a home on Charriton near Chrisman for a domestic disturbance. An 11-year-old girl had called 911, saying her uncle was beating up her mother.

When deputies arrived, they got the girl and her mother out of the house. The man was then barricaded inside the home by himself. Deputies tried to talk to the man, but after about an hour they entered the house with a ballistic shield for protection.

"The suspect was brandishing what can only be described as a small hand axe that had been attached to a longer pole, I've heard about four feet long," said Captain John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department. "He was swinging the axe at our deputies."

Deputies shocked the man with a Taser twice, with no effect, then shot the man. He was taken by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition. Deputies were not injured.

The investigation is ongoing. The identity of the wounded man has not been released at this time.

 

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