Houston Police were looking for two suspects on Saturday night who allegedly shot and killed a New Orleans police officer on leave and injured a second person in a cheeky shootout on a restaurant patio.
The suspects around 5 p.m. reportedly demanded that diners at Italian restaurant Grotto Ristorante in the trendy Galleria mall turn over their belongings at gunpoint, FOX 26 reported in Houston.
Although the diners reportedly gave their money to the suspects, one of the suspects reportedly started shooting, hitting the victims.
The discharged officer was pronounced dead and the second victim was taken to hospital in critical condition, Houston’s KHOU-TV reported.
CALIFORNIA SUSPECTED OF SHOOTING IN EMBASSY AT DEPUTY KILLED, TWO OFFICERS INJURED, AUTHORITIES SAY
“It doesn’t make sense,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a press conference, KHOU reported. “We are going to be united as a city. You look at the statistics over the last two weeks, crime has gone down a bit and we want to continue to do so. But at the moment, I’m not worried about the status … [I’m] worry about having these two people because I don’t want them to reflect our city. ”
Houston police tweeted grainy photos of the suspects they described as black men wearing black and gray or white hoodies and walking away in a silver Nissan Altima with paper plates.
“We’re better than that,” Finner said emphatically. “And I’m not going to let go as a leader, and everyone that’s with me right now, and let a few little thugs demolish our town.”
The victims have not been identified. Finner said the officer on leave was a father of two and a “well-respected” member of the New Orleans Police Department, according to FOX 26.
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The NOPD “suffered a loss today,” NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in a statement tweeted by the department. “We pray for the family of our deceased officer. We also pray for the family of the second victim of this incident. I want to thank Houston Police Chief Troy Finner for his strong words of support tonight.
“I would also ask you to pray for the NOPD family as we begin to understand the tremendous loss we have suffered. At this point, we will not identify the deceased officer and we ask you to respect the privacy of his family in this terrible time. ”
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