Drug deal goes bad - two shot - one dead.

khou.com
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:26 AM
Updated today at 8:45 AM

HOUSTON—A 24-year-old man was killed and his brother injured after the two were shot in what appears to be a drug deal gone bad Wednesday evening, according to HPD Homicide detectives.
Police officers responded to a home on Winter Briar at Winter Seasons in southwest Houston for reports of a drive-by shooting.

They arrived around 9 p.m. to find two brothers had been shot. They said the actual shooting took place at another location about a half-mile away, but the brothers somehow made it back home.
Police believe the brothers drove their Cadillac a few blocks from their home to meet a group of men and purchase drugs. Some sort of altercation occurred and one of the men opened fire on the brothers.

"The exact circumstances are unclear as to what transpired a t the two locations, but we have one dead," said Sgt. Thomas Biggs, HPD Homicide Division. "We believe we have all of the players in custody.

The bullet traveled completely through one of the brothers. Police said he was shot in the chest or the back, but it is unclear which point is the entry and exit.
The other brother was shot in the foot. He was taken to Southwest Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was treated and released. He returned to the scene to talk to police.
Several suspects were taken in for questioning and police said they definitely know one of them is the shooter.


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Breaking: Houston Ship Channel Closed!

HOUSTON, Texas

—A four-mile stretch of the Houston Ship Channel remained closed to marine traffic Monday after a barge slammed into a tower supporting a high-voltage electric transmission line, threatening to topple it into the channel.

Coast Guard officials said a towing vessel named Safety Quest was pushing three barges loaded with scrap metal about 6 a.m. Sunday when it smashed into a Baytown power line, which remained upright only with the support of one of the barges.
No injuries were reported, but the six-member boat crew moved to another vessel and to safety.
Officials said the section from Crystal Bay to the Blackwell Peninsula would remain closed until at least Tuesday night.

"The situation is a little bit unstable right now," said Capt. Marcus Woodring. "The lines are sagging and we cannot allow any vessels to pass underneath with the unstable situation and chance of those lines falling in the water."
Centerpoint Energy officials said the power had been shut off to the line because crews had previously been working on a nearby tower. They said no customers had lost electricity following the crash.
Eighteen inbound vessels attempted to get into the port early Tuesday afternoon, and many remained anchored off the coast of Galveston. Twelve outbound commercial ships were also stuck.
The 25-mile waterway is lined by the nation’s biggest complex of petrochemical plants. The Port of Houston ranks first in the nation in foreign waterborne tonnage and imports and second in U.S. export tonnage and total tonnage.

"Anytime you see something like this, you hate it, because it’s affecting people and how they make their money," said Richard Zeno, a tugboat captain who was not involved in the crash but watched the teetering tower as he was fishing with his family Sunday.

Coast Guard officials said the ship channel handles more than $320 million in cargo and crude daily, meaning the Port of Houston would lose about $1 billion if the waterway stayed closed until Tuesday night.

"Commerce, of course, is very, very important," said Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant. "But we don’t want to put lives in jeopardy doing so."

"This is actually very difficult because the tower is actually sitting on the barge," Bryant said.
The Coast Guard said the boat’s owner is St. Louis-based AEP River Operations.

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Rep seeks Ike insurance information ..

State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood , sent the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association a new request for information about cases related to Hurricane Ike after a judge expressed concern that an earlier request sought private information.

Last week, Taylor sent the association, the insurer of last resort for property owners in coastal areas, a letter asking for detailed information about each case in a $189 million settlement agreement that the association reached over the summer with more than 2,000 property owners hit by Hurricane Ike. His inquiry included several questions about attorney fees.

The lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in the settlement was Steve Mostyn, perhaps the most prolific donor in the Texas Democratic Party. Mostyn, arguing that Taylor was seeking private information about the property owners, asked a Galveston County judge to grant a temporary restraining order that would block the agency from responding to Taylor's request. The judge granted that order Monday.

Taylor has said he was trying to get information for a report that's in the works from a legislative committee overseeing windstorm insurance issues. Taylor is the co-chairman of that committee.

On Friday, Taylor sent a new letter. He expressly said in the new request that he was not seeking private information about property owners involved in the settlement.

"I am not seeking any confidential information relating to any individual or corporate policyholder, such as names, personal addresses, social security numbers, or other such personally identifiable information," Taylor says in his new request. He withdrew his earlier request.

Mostyn called Taylor's request bizarre. Because Taylor's latest letter is an open-records request that any citizen can file, privacy laws will prevent him from getting much of the information he's requesting. If Taylor wants the information for legislative purposes, Mostyn said, he should bring it before the windstorm oversight committee and ask the full committee to endorse his request.

House Insurance Committee Chairman John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said he thought Taylor's request was valid, although he said he had found much of the information Taylor is seeking through news accounts online.

"The dollars are designed to put roofs back on houses and fix windows," Smithee said. "We need to know why we had this many lawsuits and why they were settled."

Smithee noted that the windstorm insurance association's costs are subsidized by policyholders in other parts of the state

9/11 contrail explained.

No - it wasn't aliens - or "chemtrails" or fighters on patrol on the anniversary of 9/11 - but rather a NASA high altitude research aircraft that caused the "mysterious" contrails over the Houston area Saturday.

Houston Airport Systems spokeswoman Marlene McClinton told Local 2 that NASA's WB-57 is a high-altitude aircraft, operating out of Ellington Field.
"It is taking air samples between 45,000 and 51,000 feet," said McClinton.

According to McClinton, it was a normal operation, but due to atmospheric conditions, the contrails were extremely visible.

Many callers said the plane looked like a big commercial passenger plane with the NASA oogo on it.
"It was just circling," said Cindy Hamilton who lives in Friendswood.
She saw the plane around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"It would go north and just circle back to the south. I was just concerned because of what day it is. Seeing the plane brought back memories," Hamilton said.
Karon Wisdom saw the plane in Channelview circling for hours.

"Because its 9/11, everyone's keeping their eye on the sky," she said. "I thought either someone was watching out for us on the Gulf Coast, or something weird was happening."

NASA officials said the aircraft was testing out a new instrument and that "they have made several flights this week. It's unfortunate for the atmospheric conditions that made it very visible on 9/11."
Officials said it was nothing to be alarmed about.


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Woman who fired at robbers hailed as a hero

By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News
Published September 3, 2010
LA MARQUE — The woman who fended off a pair of robbers by opening fire on them in a Walmart parking lot Wednesday was hailed as a hero by many. As police search for the robbery suspects, the 56-year-old woman is “very shaken” and “obviously scared,” a La Marque police investigator said.

Police believe the La Marque robbery suspects are the same men who robbed a woman at gunpoint in Friendswood earlier in the day.

Friendswood police were working with Houston police to develop leads Thursday afternoon, and it appears the Galveston County robberies are related to three similar incidents that happened in Houston within the last week, Friendswood Police Chief Bob Wieners said.

Victim Fought Back

The La Marque shooting happened in the parking lot of Walmart, 6410 Interstate 45, at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The woman had been shopping at Walmart and was getting back into her car when a man pushed a pistol to her stomach and took her purse. The Santa Fe-area resident, who has a concealed handgun license, reached into the center console of her car and pulled out a revolver, police said.

The armed robber backed away and jumped into a waiting SUV that sped off. La Marque police Detective Danielle Herman said the woman managed to fire five shots, hitting the SUV’s tailgate at least once.

At least one other person was in the SUV, but police did not have a description of the getaway driver, Herman said. The armed man was described as Hispanic, 25 to 35 years old, clean shaven with short, dark hair. He stood from 5-feet, 4-inches to 5-feet, 9-inches tall and had a stocky build, Herman said.

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, the woman said she still was shaken by the episode and did not want to talk about the incident because she was busy canceling her credits cards and mobile phone, which were in the purse.

Escape Vehicle

The robbers’ escape vehicle was a newer-model, silver or gray Nissan Pathfinder, with Texas license plate NMG-714, Herman said. Police had several addresses for the vehicle’s owner, all in Southwest Houston.

State records show that license plate is registered to a Chevy Suburban and not a Nissan. Police also were checking to see whether the plates were from a different vehicle, Herman said.

La Marque police were scheduled to meet with Friendswood investigators Thursday afternoon to compare notes related to an armed robbery of a woman in an H-E-B parking lot that happened about an hour and a half before the La Marque robbery. The robber’s description was similar for both crimes, Herman and Wieners said.

The Houston Police Department is assisting in the investigation, Wieners said.

Hero Or Risk Taker?

Online and on talk radio, the woman in the La Marque robbery was being hailed as a hero.

One online comment at galvnews.com said: “Well, here’s a wake-up call for me and possibly some other women. I keep resisting carrying, but the way things are going I think I will be locked and cocked at all times. If enough women start taking these macho clowns down, maybe we can go back to some semblance of a peaceful life.”

Others were grateful the victims were not hurt but questioned the shooting.

Another comment on galvnews.com said: “Thank God the two women (in the La Marque and Friendswood robberies) are OK and no innocent bystanders were injured or killed by a stray bullet at the Walmart incident. I know, under the circumstance, her adrenaline must have taken over, but shooting at a moving vehicle in a parking lot seems a bit drastic.”

Handgun Training

Her action was not that drastic, considering the training concealed handgun license holders get, said Tom Estep, one of the first handgun license instructors certified by the state when the concealed handgun laws were approved in 1995.

Estep said handgun license classes review different scenarios, including those in which the gun owner might be in a public place like a parking lot, when firing a weapon.

“I make it clear to (students) that every round they shoot is their responsibility,” Estep said. “They are responsible for that bullet. (Instructors) want to caution them to be absolutely certain what’s beyond your target.”

Estep said the first rule is always personal safety.

“If there is even the slightest chance that someone will hurt me or someone else, then the shooting starts,” he said. “Still, I also tell people I am not going to shoot someone over a few bucks in my shirt pocket.

“You have to evaluate the situation you are in.”

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