76 °F
One Houston police officer was killed and another injured while serving a narcotics arrest warrant at a Harris County apartment complex Monday morning. The man who shot them is also dead, according to police.
Houston police Chief Troy Finner said Officer William Jeffrey and Sgt. Michael Vance were transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where Jeffrey, an HPD veteran of nearly 31 years, was pronounced dead.
Vance, who has been with HPD for more than 20 years, is in stable condition and expected to survive, Finner said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner asked the city to pray for both officers.
"This has been a tragic day today," Turner said. "It is another reminder that police work in inherently dangerous and you never know – police officers never know – what they're going to face when they leave their homes during the course of their duty."
The officers, members of the department’s major offenders division, were executing the high-level felony warrant around 7:30 a.m. at an apartment complex on Aeropark Drive near Bush Intercontinental Airport, the chief said.
The 30-year-old man's wife or girlfriend opened the door, and as the officers spoke with her, he opened fire, Finner said.
"You got a suspect, with a female girlfriend with small kids in that apartment complex and he still fired upon our officers," he said.
The officers returned fire, struck the man and killed him, Finner said. The man's name has not yet been released, pending family notification.
Chief Finner said he has known Jeffrey for his entire career and considered him one of the department's best officers. He said Jeffrey's wife, who was also a police officer, had just retired.
"Right now, I want to celebrate the service of him and all of our officers around the nation and in this great city," Finner said.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the criminal investigation. HPD’s internal affairs division and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office are also investigating the shooting.