Off-duty officer shoots robber

Incident is the third in six days in which police fire at suspects

An off-duty Houston police officer shot an armed robber Wednesday at a Walmart in northeast Harris County, marking the third time since Jan. 3 that a Houston police officer fired their weapon at an armed suspect.

In Wednesday’s shooting, a man held a customer service clerk at gunpoint near the front of the store in the 9200 block of North Sam Houston Parkway, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The officer, a 17year veteran, was standing nearby when she intervened and fired at least one round.

Houston Police Assistant Chief Bobby Dobbins said the officer “controlled” the wounded suspect, who was still armed, immediately after shooting. Once the area was safe, the officer administered first aid, he said.

The suspect was transported to Ben Taub Hospital in stable condition. Authorities did not release the names of the suspect or the officer.

Dobbins called the recent spate of officer-involved shootings “tragic” and said all officers participate in peer-support groups after violent encounters.

“It’s bad for any department when you have one shooting,” he said. “When you have multiple, obviously it puts more of a strain on our department and our officers. But it just goes to show … we’re out here doing our job every day to protect the citizens, and sometimes we have to use the means necessary to protect our public.”

The recent Houston police-involved shootings date back to Jan. 3, when officers responded to an assault call at a home in the 11000 block of Spottswood. There, they encountered 34-year-old Paul Robinson in the backyard, holding a semi-automatic weapon to his neck, police said.

He retreated to a shed and made two requests: that the woman he attacked come to the backyard and see him, and that officers kill him, according to police. Five officers opened fire when Robinson aimed his weapon at them, police said. He was shot multiple times and airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital. His current condition is unknown.

On Monday, an off-duty Houston police sergeant working an extra job at a Midtown business opened fire at Kenneth Jefferson, who was one of two men allegedly pistol whipping and robbing a third man in the 1100 block of Hadley Street.

Jefferson allegedly pointed his gun at the officer before the shooting, police said. Jefferson fled but was later found at a Galveston hospital. He has since been charged with aggravated assault against a public servant.

None of the officers involved in the shootings were injured, police said.