Man shot by Webster police is in critical condition

Police say he threatened to shoot people

By MIKE GLENN

Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

March 24, 2009, 9:04AM

A man was in critical condition late Monday after being shot by police outside a Webster hospital after threatening people and brandishing what officers thought might be a gun, officials said.

Donna Hawkins, an assistant Harris County district attorney, identified the man as Steven Moran. Investigators say they are now trying to determine why Moran, who had been injured in a traffic accident before being taken to Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, threatened to shoot hospital staff members.

He was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston after being shot late Sunday. Police said he was wielding an object as if it were a weapon. Authorities said it turned out to be a small flashlight that he was holding in a two-handed grip as if it were a pistol.

Staff members told officers that Moran was lying between two cars in the parking lot about 11 p.m. Sunday and that they couldn’t help him because he was threatening to shoot anyone who came near, Webster police said.

Police later learned that Moran’s father had driven him to the hospital and left him in the car while he went inside to get help. The man apparently crawled out of the vehicle but was unable to walk into the hospital.

Officers secured the parking lot and tried to persuade the man to put down the object he was holding and surrender. After negotiations failed, they moved in and fired at him when they thought he was about to shoot, officials said.

Moran was treated there, then transferred to Ben Taub.

As is routine in shootings involving officers, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is investigating along with Webster police.

mike.glenn@chron.com