Deputy constable shoots person who held machete
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A chaotic ordeal ends with a man shot and killed by police outside a bus station in southeast Houston.
"There was a man with a machete and he was hitting a police car,” explains one witness to FOX 26 News. The station was crowded and people pulled out their cell phones to record video of a man with a machete wearing a baseball cap and out of control.
”The suspect was using the machete, stabbing gas tanks to several vehicles and attempting to light them on fire," says Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties. "He had a lighter in his hands.”
Ten-year veteran Harris County Precinct 6 Deputy Constable C. Pezano was the first to arrive at Omnibus Express in response to a reported disturbance and she quickly called for backup after the man with the machete came after her and demanded the keys to her cruiser.
"He chases the deputy for a minute with the machete in a threatening manner and then he attempts to get inside her patrol vehicle which is locked," explains Senties. "So he causes damage to the vehicle with the butt end of the machete and starts striking the window.”
More deputy constables and an HPD officer later arrived and attempted to talk with the man.
"Both in English and in Spanish giving him verbal commands to put the weapon down” but the video shows the man continuing to walk around opening fuel compartments of vehicles parked in the Omnibus Express lot on Telephone Road near Wayside Drive.
"He kind of walked around here with the machete and the police were trying to calm him down,” explains witness Roxanne Herrera.
On the cell phone video, you can see the man is then stunned by the police officer and he raises the machete and runs right at the officer.
“He struck the HPD officer at least two or three times with the machete,” says Senties.
Pct. 6 Deputy Constable Lieutenant J.D. Rosenthal opened fire, ending the ordeal and killing the man that police say started it all.
"Oh my gosh, I was scared," adds Herrera. "My knees started shaking."
The HPD officer hit with the machete was struck with the flat end, not the sharp side and is said to have suffered minor injuries.
Workers at Omnibus Express say this all began because the bus that the man wanted to board was leaving and he wasn’t allowed to buy a ticket. They also say he became upset and aggressive and they contacted 911. The man’s identity hasn’t been released but witnesses say he appeared to be an older man.