HPD: Grand jury will review clerk's killing of gunman

[Paladin]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5991173.html

HPD: Grand jury will review clerk's killing of gunman
By KEVIN MORAN Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 9, 2008, 11:41PM

The fatal shooting of a robbery suspect by a clerk at a southwest Houston cellular phone store will be referred to a Harris County grand jury without charges, police said Tuesday.

The shooting happened shortly before 7 p.m. Monday after the man entered the T-Mobile store in the 7500 block of the Southwest Freeway and pointed a pistol at two employees, police said.

A third employee, who is licensed to carry a concealed handgun, confronted the man and the two exchanged shots, investigators said.

The robbery suspect died at the scene. The employee was not injured.

The dead man's name was withheld, pending positive identification by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

The investigation is continuing, police said.

[ErnieP]

Should be routine procedure. As is customary with law enforcement shootings resulting in death, the information is referred to an "independent" Grand Jury for review. The human mind is such that whenever we are involved in an unfortunate situation, that we often ask ourself the "What if?, If I would have?, Would the other person really have?, etcetera, types of questions. Although if often does not completely eliminate these "normal" types of questions, it at least gives the Good Person the ability of knowing that an "independent" group of citizens reviewed the facts, and AGREES that the Good Person was Justified in their actions. From the press account it appears this was a clean, justifiable use of force, and the outcome should be a "No Bill" finding by the Grand Jury. It also appears the State's Attorney sees it the same way in that no charges are being sought.

The Grand Jury system is good, but it is still always a good idea to secure legal counsel in such a case as soon as possible after the incident, and before giving statements. Any shooting is an emotion charged event, and when we are excited, we can accidentally mis-speak and cause potential problems. By taking a little time to "de-stress" and talk to your lawyer, a more accurate statement can then be given. It's also good to know which lawyer you would call in advance; that's just part of being prepared.

[HighVelocity]

I wonder if the Clerk will get to keep his job.

[KBCraig]

Since it was referred to the GJ without charges, this amounts to the police and prosecutor asking the GJ to no-bill the shooter.

[WillieD]

This type of situation is one of the key reasons I got my CHL. My job entails working with local cell phone stores all over DFW, OK, and Northern Louisiana and they are not all in nice areas. Stores that I visit regularly have been robbed at gun point during the day, and others have had attempted robberies as well. If something like this ever happens while I am in one of these stores I want to be prepared and come out of the event alive along with the other innocent people in the store.

This is a store that I take care of that was robbed 1 year ago when they were getting ready to close. http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Hom ... 1.1&sflg=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DoubleJ]

HPD: Grand jury will review clerk's killing of gunman
By KEVIN MORAN Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 9, 2008, 11:41PM

The robbery suspect died at the scene. The employee was not injured

Hits on target, no hits sustained, niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
hope I can handle a sichy-ashun that well!