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Man fatally shot by police during standoff

Second deadly police shooting in two weeks

By Miya Shay

(7/31/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - Police shot and killed a man in southeast Houston Tuesday. It's the second deadly officer-involved shooting in just over a week.

It began as a frantic 911 call around 9:30am. By the time officers arrived at the scene on Mowery and Duane, the man neighbors called 'Reggie' was hanging out in the median of the road, waving a Bible in one hand and, according to police, a gun in the other.

"He had a gun in his hand, sure enough. But he wasn't waving it and it didn't point it at (the) law," said witness Joyce Grant. "He just picked it up and held it in his hand, held his Bible. When they asked him to put it down, he wouldn't put it down. But a few minutes passed by and he laid it down."

Grant watched as officers tried to talk to Reggie, but the talks didn't end well. Police say Reggie made a move towards the gun and that's when officers fired multiple times.

"At some point in time, the suspect was convinced to lay his weapon down and for some reason unknown to us at this time, the suspect reacquired it and pointed it at one of the officers," said Captain Bruce Williams with the Houston Police Department. "At this point in time, one officer fired to protect the life of the officer who was threatened."

The suspect was transported to Ben Taub Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. He died a short time later. Investigators are still piecing together exactly what happened. But Reggie's cousin is devastated.

"I've always been around him, seen him laughing and talking and joking, you know how they do that little rap," said Cassandra Carpenter, the suspect's cousin. "He loved his daughter. He loved his baby."

Homicide investigators have the case now. This is the second shooting in two weeks involving Houston police officers and a suspect. The other shooting happened a little over a week ago on a weekend. The suspect was waving a pipe. Police saw it as a danger and shot the man, killing him.