Posted on 09/22/2006 1:15:32 PM PDT by WatchingInAmazement
A 32-year-old illegal immigrant has been charged in Thursday evening's shooting death of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson.
Juan Leonardo Quintero has been charged with capital murder in the 248th District Court, said HPD spokesman John Cannon.
The suspect is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been deported in the past and sometimes expressed concern about immigration officials and worried that he should return, his wife, Theresa Quintero, said in an interview today at their home near Hobby Airport.
Mrs. Quintero said the couple has been married since 1997.
The HPD spokesman Cannon said the suspect gave "a full confession" to the shooting.
A Harris County prosecutor said in court this morning that, while seated in the back seat, the suspect pulled a 9 mm handgun from his waistband and shot Johnson in the face. The officer was able to push an emergency response button, alerting dispatch of a problem.
When other police arrived at the scene, Quintero remained in the back seat with the gun in his hand, the prosecutor said. Police found bullet casings inside the car.
Quintero kept his head down while waiting to be called before the judge. During a brief hearing, he answered "Yes'' when asked whether he understood the charge against him.
Quintero's record shows he received deferred adjudication for a 1998 charge of indecency with a child, according to Harris County records.
Also on his record are a 1996 charge of driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and a driving while intoxicated conviction in 1995.
The simple traffic stop turned suddenly tragic Thursday evening when the veteran Houston police officer was shot and killed as he sat in the front seat of his patrol car near Hobby Airport.
Just after 5 p.m., Johnson had stopped a pickup with two people inside. It was unclear why he detained or handcuffed the driver, though an officer familiar with the incident said he had no identification on him. At least one female passenger left, possibly with Johnson's permission, but Police Chief Harold Hurtt said he thought officers had found the woman and were bringing her to headquarters for questioning.
A source familiar with the scene said Johnson was shot four times through the plastic shield separating the front and rear seats. Johnson managed to push his emergency button before collapsing. The 12-year veteran of the department was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect reportedly struggled as officers tried to move him to a different vehicle.
"They finally got him in the other car, but he was scratching and fighting and acting crazy, like he could win in a fight like that," said Clara Rodriguez, who lives nearby.
Johnson, 40, was the first HPD officer killed in more than two years.
"He was very personable," Hurtt said. "We will miss one of our true soldiers in Rodney Johnson."
At least a dozen law enforcement vehicles cordoned off a large area at Randolph and Braniff where the light bar atop Johnson's patrol car continued to flash long after the shooting. Temporary spotlights illuminated the scene into the evening as evidence technicians scoured the area. The owner of a nearby machine shop was called to the scene because bullets apparently pierced the wall of his building and investigators needed to get inside.
Before the suspect was taken to HPD headquarters, he was stripped of his clothes, which were placed in evidence bags, and dressed in a white jumpsuit. He was then taken downtown in the second of three patrol cars that left the scene shortly after 7 p.m.
'It just breaks my heart' As news of Johnson's death spread, police officers gathered in small groups but said little. One HPD sergeant walked to a patrol car, took out his cell phone and made a quick phone call, taking a long drink of cold water from a bottle.
"Something real bad has happened by the airport," he said.
Rodriguez said that she and her neighbors in the small subdivision between Telephone Road and Almeda Genoa knew Johnson well and that he was well-liked.
"He would always wave and smile when he saw me," Rodriguez said. "He was a real nice guy. All he was trying to do was enforce the rules."
Rodriguez said Johnson stopped her once for speeding when the speed limit was lowered on Telephone Road. She said he politely asked her to slow down and did not ticket her.
"He was just so very nice," she said. "He was not ever mean. It just breaks my heart. I feel so very bad for his wife. He got up and went to work this morning, and this is what happened. This is what happened to one of the people who protects us, who truly took care of us."
Johnson graduated from high school in Oakland, Calif., then enlisted in the Army, serving as an MP until he was honorably discharged in 1990. He served as a corrections officer for the Texas Department of Corrections (now the Texas Department of Criminal Justice) and as a Houston police jailer before attending the police academy and graduating in 1994.
Johnson was assigned to the southeast division that year and to the southeast gang task force in 1996. While on the task force he received two Lifesaving Awards from the department and one Medal of Valor from the state. He was married to Houston police officer Joslyn Johnson. They have three daughters and two sons.
The The 100 Club is issuing a $10,000 check to Johnson's family for any immediate costs associated with his death and will provide the family with further assistance later.
The group's Survivor’s Fund provides benefits to the dependents of peace officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.
A familiar scene Thursday's incident was similar to the shooting of Houston police officer G.P. Gaddis in 1994. Gaddis was murdered by one of two aggravated robbery suspects he was taking to jail for aggravated robbery. Both had been searched and handcuffed behind their backs before being placed in the back seat of the patrol car.
Edgar Arias Tamayo managed to maneuver his hands, still cuffed, to his front and retrieved a pistol hidden in his clothes. He then shot Gaddis in the back of the head as he was driving. The patrol car crashed into a house, and the suspect escaped from the wrecked car, but was arrested nearby.
Tamayo was convicted of capital murder and is on death row. The shooting prompted criticism of the department by police union officials who claimed Gaddis' death could have been prevented if patrol units carried two officers.
According to a police department patrol veteran, within the past two years all HPD officers were required to attend an in-service training refresher class on proper search technique. However, he said, the unique circumstances of each incident dictate how thoroughly a suspect is searched. Search procedures also are outlined in the department's general orders manual, the officer said.
"The degree of search can range from a strip search to a cursory pat-down," said the officer, who requested anonymity out fear of departmental reprisals. "If the person is just a witness or if (the stop) is just a traffic violation, you might just put them in the back of your (patrol) car to do the paperwork. If the suspect is high risk or wanted on a felony, then you need to do more than a pat-down. But even then, you can still miss a weapon. It's part of the job. And this isn't the first time an officer has been killed with a suspect in the back seat."
Nor was it out of the ordinary for a one-man patrol unit such as Johnson to arrest one or more suspects without calling for backup, the officer said.
In the estimation of the officer, the department's well-publicized staffing shortage leaves approximately 80 percent of all HPD patrol units with a single officer. There is no protocol mandating that single-patrol officers call for backup while making arrests, he added.
"If we called for backup every time we made an arrest, nothing would get done," the officer said. "Lots of officers arrest multiple suspects by themselves. But would it be safer with two officers? Absolutely."
News of Johnson's death hit the department hard, especially Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, who said he was a close friend.
"He was very, very safety conscious," Marticiuc said. "He knows how to search. He worked in the jail for a number of years and all they do is search prisoners down there. "
Johnson served on the union's board of directors.
Other officer deaths The last Houston police officer killed in the line of duty was Frank M. Cantu, who was hit by a drunk driver in Montrose in March 2004. The driver was charged with intoxication manslaughter.
Three officers have been wounded in shootings since then, however. The most recent occurred in January 2005 in west Houston. Officer Ronald V. Pinkerton was shot twice as he approached a vehicle that had rear-ended him.
The last fatal shooting of a Houston police officer involved Charles R. Clark in 2003. Clark, a 20-year veteran, was killed while responding to a silent alarm at a check cashing store on South Loop 610.
In July 2005, 33-year-old reserve Deputy Constable Nehemiah Pickens was killed by friendly fire during a chase in northeast Houston. Pickens, who was armed but not in uniform, was shot four times in the back by a deputy sheriff.
About 100 Houston police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 1860.
Chronicle reporters Eric Hanson, Steve McVicker, Anne Marie Kilday, Peggy O'Hare, Jennifer Radcliffe, Mike Glenn and Todd Ackerman contributed to this report.
mike.tolson@chron.com
Certainly not. It could be made a whole lot more difficult.
As it is, any illiterate cholo with a vague idea of "North" can manage it.
This really is more blood on Bush's hands.
More blood on the alter of free trade/open borders.
I wonder how many more Americans, especially police officers will have to be slaughtered before Bush will give a s##t.
The Texas governor race should be one of the most interesting. And Kinky has the politicos worried, so they're trying a smear campaign on him. Show's he is a threat.
Yeah ture and you are confirming my point that what is more important to you is the race of perp, not the actual evil the perp committed.
LOL! You must be drinking heavily for breakfast. My post said nothing about race and neither did the one I responded to. You're grasping at imaginary straws.
Let me put it this way:
For example, let us say that 100 murders are committed.
Let's say 99 were from legal residents/citizens and only 1 by an illegal alien.
I would still press for closing the borders and deporting illegals because that is AT LEAST 1 murder that could have been stopped.
Not to mention the drain on the health care system, school system, etc, etc, etc...
I would still press for closing the borders and deporting illegals because that is AT LEAST 1 murder that could have been stopped.
Not to mention the drain on the health care system, school system, etc, etc, etc...
And what about the 99 other murders. They seem to go scot free in your logic.
Me personally, murder is murder and one murder is not more right wing politcally correct than others.
All murderous behavior should be punished despite race or immigration status, IMO.
I'm quite sure if everyone had been nice to him and not hasled him about being an illegal, he wouldn't have killed the officer...he would have wound up dragging his wife to death behind his car.
There needs to be a fund to build a section of wall on the border in memory of each of these officers.
" And what about the 99 other murders. They seem to go scot free in your logic.
Me personally, murder is murder and one murder is not more right wing politcally correct than others.
All murderous behavior should be punished despite race or immigration status, IMO."
That is my point exactly, that murder is WRONG no matter who commits it, BUT by stopping
people that shouldn't be here in the first place, you would cut down the amount of murders that are taking place.
I thought that piont was made pretty clearly when I posted it in the first place. HELLO?...McFLY!
Then I ask you, osama bin ladin never steeped foot in the US.
If his mother had aborted him, there would not be 3,000 American innocent dead.
I abhor aboertion, but I'm just usuoing your logic as you try to jsutify that murder and violence committed by an illegal alien is some how worse than murder and violence committed by native born Americans.
Murder is murder and you will not stop it by focusing on ones immigration status, you will stop it by promoting universal human values against wanton violence.
"The difference is the cop-killer shouldn't have been in the country in the first place Dane.
So you are saying that the scumbag who shot 5 in Pittsburgh is less evil; in heart than the scumbag who shot the Houston police officer.
I say they are both equally evil scumbags."
I hate to get into this, but I will.
Nowhere does anyone say that the US scumbag is any better than the Mexican scumbag. The Mexican scumbag should be in Mexico. If that were the case, the cop would be alive. It has NOTHING to do with level of evil. It has to do with location.
We have no choice with our scumbags. They have a right to live in the US until they do something illegal. Then they have the right to go through our court system and suffer the consequences.
We do have a choice with Mexican scumbags. Keep them out of our country. By definition, anyone who crosses the border illegally (knowingly) is a lawbreaker and should not be allowed in our country.
Your attempt to brand people racist who want to deport illegal aliens is lame and stupid.
"I hate to get into this, but I will."
Hate to tell you this, but you're wasting your time.
"Hate to tell you this, but you're wasting your time."
I figured that. The whole idea that one who wants to keep illegal aliens out is a racist, demonstrates the lack of mental ability of the accuser.
Thank you for the list of LEO's killed by illegals. WE need to remind not only our opponents, but ourselves of this often.
Nice job.
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