[WestCoastGal]

Now FBI says guard shot himself??????????????????


Did plant security guard make up story about shooting?

Security guard Robert House tells Eyewitness News the FBI is essentially accusing him of lying after he was shot.
By Deborah Wrigley
ABC13 Eyewitness News
(1/26/04 - FREEPORT, TX) — Law enforcement officers have ruled out terrorism as a motive in the shooting of a guard at a Freeport chemical plant over the weekend. Monday, that security guard talked from his hospital.


The indisputable fact in the story is that security guard Robert House was shot late Friday night. He says the bullet came from a man who was taking pictures of a chemical plant. Now House says the FBI is accusing him of fabricating the entire incident.

The shooting happened not far from the Port of Freeport on a gravel road near the BASF Chemical plant. A man was reportedly sitting in a truck without license plates. Contract security guard Robert House approached him.

"I radioed to my dispatch to say the gentleman was taking pictures of the lights," recalled House.

Then House says he saw a gun aimed by a man he describes as having a foreign accent.

He said, "Trying to tell him, 'No, no! Don't shoot me' when he shot me."

It was a shoulder wound. While recovering at a Lake Jackson hospital House says he spoke with an FBI agent and agreed to a polygraph test.

But then House claims the agent told him "the test was telling him that I shot myself. And I told him no, I didn't. And he said he could it in my eyes, that I was crying out for some type of help."

This weekend, the FBI's Houston spokesman Bob Doguim said, "We've got more and more reason not to believe this is terrorist related or any terrorist concerns."

As for Robert House's allegations, on Monday the same spokesman told Eyewitness News, "We already said what we had to say. We don't have the luxury of playing this out in public."

So now Robert House has a lawyer -- and he says he also has a fear.

"Actually scared whoever this person was might come back, and on top of that I have the FBI telling me I shot myself," said House.

House has referred all specific questions to his attorney. However, as of air time for this story, the attorney has yet to return our calls.
(Copyright © 2004, KTRK-TV)

[WestCoastGal]

9:45 pm 45°F

News 24 Houston News Briefs
1/24/2004 12:56 PM
By: News 24 Houston

Coast Guard steps up security at Houston Ship Channel

The Coast Guard has starting giving random escorts to ships carrying hazardous chemicals into the Houston Ship Channel.

It's all part of a security precaution to prevent someone from taking control of one of the ships.

The tankers move past several large chemical plants and refineries.

Experts say any disruption in production could make the price of gas spike severely.

Officials say during the recent orange level security alert, all vessels bearing hazardous chemical were escorted.

http://www.news24houston.com/content/headlines/?ArID=22764&SecID=2

[txhurl]

OK, this is getting bizarre.

[knak]

very bizarre indeed

[Oorang]

Oh good grief. If they retrieved the bullet (whether from the shoulder or from the ground) they can do a ballistics test and compare it to the guards gun. Sounds to me like they are trying to do a "move along, nothing to see here" scenario and then drop the story below the media radar AGAIN.

[Quix]

God help us.

The enemies within seem more sometimes than the enemies without.

[Velveeta]

How strange can it get?

[JustPiper]

Oh, come on! Who threatened him?