HPD investigates if Sgt. Brewster's vest was penetrated by bullet

HOUSTON - Houston Police Sgt. Chris Brewster may have been shot through his bulletproof vest. Now, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo is issuing a warning to his officers and they are being required to wear rifle resistant vests over top of their bulletproof vests, as the department investigates how Sgt. Brewster's vest could have been compromised.

"Our hearts are very heavy with the loss of our sergeant already. We didn’t need an extra worry on top of it,” says Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi. That new worry for Houston police officers? Will their last layer of protection, their bulletproof vest, work when they need it?

"The vests we wear are rated to stop handgun rounds, which is the round the suspect used when he murdered Sgt. Brewster, but our concern is it appears some of the rounds according to the department penetrated that vest,” explains Gamaldi.  

This concern comes after Chief Acevedo says Sgt. Brewster may have been shot through his bulletproof vest when he was killed Saturday while responding to a domestic disturbance call in East Houston. 

“In an abundance of caution today, we told our members make sure to go ahead and put on your rifle resistant vests, hard body armor over your soft body armor to make sure you have that extra level of protection,” says Gamaldi.

The vest Houston police officers are now wearing are typically worn in an active shooter situation. 

"This is a rifle rated plate.  It weighs about four and half pounds.  This is in addition to the body armor and now you’re adding that much more protection for them. It’s thick to keep high caliber ammunition from penetrating,” says former officer Rick Fernandez, who now owns Cop Stop Tactical Gear in Pearland. That is where he met Sgt. Brewster. 

"We lift (Sgt. Brewster’s family) up in prayer and lift up all the men and women who go toward the danger while everyone else runs from it,” says Fernandez. 

“This is extremely upsetting and I’ll be clear now. If we find out this was a failure of the vest and it could have saved Sgt. Brewster’s life. Somebody’s going to need to be held accountable,” says Gamaldi.  

HPD officers are being instructed to wear extra protection until further notice. The Houston Police Department is doing thorough testing of vests the same make and model Sgt. Brewster was wearing to try and figure out what happened. 

HPD is also investigating to find out if bullets used to shoot Sgt. Brewster were armor-piercing or special coated rounds, or if there was somehow a failure in the vest. 

Arturo Solis has been arrested and charged with Sgt. Brewster’s murder.