Five Houston Officers Shot, Injured While Serving Warrant

HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) - Veteran narcotics officers broke down the door of a suspected drug den in southeast Houston Monday afternoon, armed with a warrant and hoping to arrest heroin dealers operating out of the Pecan Park home. They were met by a hail of gunfire, instead, as one of the suspects inside unleashed a barrage of bullets that wounded four officers, two critically. "This is never one of the calls you want to get as a chief," Police Chief Art Acevedo said outside Memorial Hermann Hospital hours later, while flanked by top police brass, Mayor Sylvester Turner and a host of other city officials. Two suspected drug dealers were killed in the incident by return fire from officers, Acevedo said, explaining a tip from a concerned neighbor led to the raid. The two killed by police were not identified. A fifth officer injured his knee in the operation. Late Monday, two of the officers remained in critical condition but stable while undergoing surgery. One is the 54-year-old case agent leading the investigation, the police chief said. Two others were in good condition, while the last officer — shot in the shoulder — had already been released from the hospital. The chaos on the tree-lined Harding Street began about 5 p.m., Acevedo said, when a dozen narcotics officers backed by a squad of uniformed patrol officers descended on the Pecan Park home to serve the search warrant. Narcotics officers had developed a case against the dealers— suspected of s...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Trauma Patient Care News Source Type: news