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El Líder del Clima.
Mantente informado.
Click on the map to view details or click here: QOHW0421
The shooting happened Saturday after a fight broke out in front of the restaurant. The video shows a man pulling out a gun and shooting another man in the leg.
An arrest has been made in connection with a shooting at the Galleria over the weekend that was caught on video that went viral.
In a press conference Wednesday with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Police Chief Troy Finner, it was announced the suspect was arrested earlier in the morning.
According to Finner, the incident was gang-related and not random. A few people that had issues with each other decided to take it out right in front of the crowd, Finner said.
Finner said Galleria security cameras were key to their investigation and arrest.
Police have not released the identity of the suspect.
The shooting happened Saturday around 6:50 p.m. near the Shake Shack restaurant in The Galleria. Video from bystanders uploaded to social media quickly went viral.
The victim was been transported to a hospital and was stable. There has not been an update on his condition.
Police say the suspect took off in a grey sedan after the shooting.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office responded Monday to an attack last week by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who characterized an indictment against three of her staffers as weaponizing the system with a “flimsy” case.
A grand jury last week indicted two current and one former Hidalgo staffer, whom investigators say steered a nearly $11 million COVID-19 vaccine outreach contract to a small Houston-based firm and shared proposal documents with the company before they were made public.
“At best, this is going forward with a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts and, at worst, it is the weaponization of the criminal justice system for political purposes so I’m not going to play into that,” Hidalgo told ABC13’s Steve Campion last Wednesday in her first on-camera interview since the indictments. “My staffers are hardworking people.”
Following Hidalgo’s comments, the Harris County DA’s office is now defending the grand jury, which is made up of 12 community residents.
“Grand jurors give up countless hours of personal and professional time to serve and their service should never be disparaged or dismissed,” Dane Schiller, a spokesperson for the Harris County DA’s Office, said in a statement. “We want to thank the grand jurors in these public corruption cases for their hard work over a five-month period in which they reviewed voluminous documents and heard from numerous witnesses. Our work continues.”
Hidalgo’s campaign spokesperson, Toni Harrison responded Monday afternoon, saying, “No one is disparaging the grand jury – that’s a red herring to deflect attention from recent media reports raising important questions about this investigation. The fact is, we’ll never know what the District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jurors because the process is secret. As we’ve said since the search warrant affidavits were made public, this investigation appears to have proceeded on a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts. We’re confident now that the legal process has moved into public view, the truth will come out and the staffers who have been wrongly accused will be cleared.”
Alex Triantaphyllis, who is Hidalgo’s current chief of staff but was her deputy chief of staff at the time the allegations took place; Aaron Dunn, then a senior advisor for public safety and emergency management at the county; and Wallis Nader, who is Hidalgo’s deputy policy director, were indicted last Monday. Each one of them was indicted on one count of misuse of official information and one count of tampering with a government record.
“Prosecutors presented the evidence to a Harris County grand jury, which determined there was sufficient evidence for criminal charges,” Schiller said last week.
Search warrants from the investigation include text messages and emails between Triantaphyllis, Dunn and Nader about the contract before it was awarded, but Hidalgo’s legal team has said the snippets of messages in the warrants don’t offer the full picture.
“The facts just don’t add up as they’re being presented,” Hidalgo said. “It’s the middle of an election year and I think it’s very clear that the motivations around this are just to harm me politically and it’s very sad to see the criminal justice system used that way.”
According to investigators, Triantaphyllis, Nader and Dunn allegedly communicated with Elevate Strategies’ Founder Felicity Pereyra in January 2021 and allowed her to review and revise the project’s scope of work for nearly a month before a bid for proposals was publicly available to all on Feb. 19, 2021.
In a Feb. 25, 2021 email, “Pereyra states she had just been invited to bid for Harris County’s large COVID-19 outreach program (campaign) to decrease vaccine hesitancy. She stated that she has ‘really solid relationships in the house and I feel really good about my chances in landing the project (they asked me to design the program beforehand but then were told to go RFP), so I’m just starting to build out a team,'” according to the search warrant.
Elevate Strategies was awarded the multi-million dollar vaccine outreach contract in June 2021, but amid the controversy, it was canceled three months later.
Dunn, Nader, and Triantaphyllis were on the five-person committee tasked with scoring the proposals before it was awarded.
The three of them appeared in court last Tuesday with their attorneys and received $3,500 bond each.
The judge told all three of them that they can’t discuss the case with one another and are also barred from participating in evaluation committees for county contracts.
As they left the courtroom, Triantaphyllis’ attorney Marla Poirot said her client would not be answering any questions.
“There’s been no wrongdoing. We’re glad to be in a fair and objective forum finally. There’s been one side of the story released to date and reported on. We’re excited to have our side of the story out there,” Poirot said.
Derek Hollingsworth, an attorney for Dunn, also did not answer questions but offered a statement.
“I’m proud to represent a public servant. After listening to the prosecutor’s rendition of probable cause, I’m really curious to see how in the world they’re going to prove this case, but I stand by my client. He’s innocent and we look forward to having our day in court,” Hollingsworth said.
Calls to Nader have not been returned and on Tuesday, her attorney declined to comment.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is requesting the recusal of a criminal court judge who they claim is partial to defendants in child sex abuse cases.
In a motion filed April 12, District Attorney Kim Ogg and Assistant District Attorney Tyler White asked Judge Jason Luong of the 185th judicial district to step down from a potential re-trial of a defendant whose case went before his court.
In March, 39-year-old Phillip Recio was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him of continuous sexual abuse of a child. He is now seeking a new trial on the grounds of insufficient counsel.
According to the motion, after Recio’s sentencing, Luong called the prosecutors and defense attorney into his chambers to provide “trial feedback”.
During that meeting, the D.A.’s office alleges the judge told the group he thought the jury got the verdict wrong and the sentence was too harsh “because he personally did not believe there was enough evidence to convict the defendant,” adding that Luong criticized one prosecutor for making the child complainants in sexual abuse cases “too believable”, the motion states.
Prosecutors also claim Luong equated child sexual abuse cases with the Salem witch trials, quoting the judge as saying, “just a mere outcry statement from a child is enough to put a man away for the rest of his life,”.
The motion states that the judge claimed text messages between the child victim and the defendant were “normal” and that he has had similar conversations with a child.
Prosecutors allege the judge was referring to text messages in which Recio told the child he missed her, wanted to cuddle, and begged her to send pictures of herself.
The motion outlines what the state asserts is a similar situation with Judge Luong in February 2022 after the acquittal of a defendant charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Prosecutors say Luong once again called them back to his chambers for “trial feedback” in which the judge told two assistant D.A.’s they were “‘too talented’ to be trying ‘these cases’ and that as a result many innocent men will go to prison,” according to the court document.
The D.A.’s office says during that meeting, Luong continually expressed his belief that children lie.
In court documents, the state wrote: “Judge Luong’s actions have created an appearance of partiality toward the defendant and bias against the law upon which the State is entitled to rely. Therefore he should be recused from further participation in this case,”.
Advocates for child survivors of sexual abuse called the judge’s alleged remarks “unsettling”.
“It was very off-putting to hear some of those comments that were made. Children may minimize or confuse details related to their abuse but they’re rarely going to lie about it,” said Olivia Rivers, chief executive officer of The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a Harris County non-profit organization that provides safety and support to victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Attorney Brian Wice says he believes the regional presiding judge who will hear the motion to recuse Wednesday morning will grant the state its request.
“Judges essentially are tasked with three plain and simple mandates: One, to call balls and strikes without passion or prejudice. Two, stay the heck out of the way. And three, not care one whit who wins or loses. This motion paints a portrait of a judge who apparently has come up short on one or more of those three mandates,” Wice said.
Tickets may be purchased to watch the digital distribution of a live taping, available from May 9 through May 22, 2022.
Please let me know if you would like to schedule an interview with an actor or a creative team member.
Tickets:
www.alleytheatre.org or 713-220-5700
Houston ISD confirmed Monday that administrators were investigating allegations of bullying at Bellaire High School, culminating in a student being beaten on campus by the same students who had been taunting him.
“He had multiple contusions on his head, in the back of his head, on his face, and he suffered a fractured nose,” said Anita Daniels.
Daniels’ son, a ninth-grader, had been enrolled at Bellaire High School for three weeks when a group of students attacked him in a hallway on April 1. Video of the fight, which another student posted to social media, showed Daniels’ son being punched and kicked repeatedly by several students, as pleas for the group to stop were ignored.
“I’m sending my child to school to be treated like this,” Daniels asked, documenting her son’s struggle.
According to Daniels, the attack was at the hands of students who had been bullying her son. She said administrators at Bellaire High School knew about the bullying allegations because days earlier, the same group tried to fight him. Despite that, Daniels continued, school administrators did not respond to her request for a meeting about safety protocol. On April 1, as she dropped off her son, she decided to go inside the school and demand a meeting. She said she didn’t feel safe leaving her son without the reassurance of his well-being.
“I said I just got a feeling about this,” Daniels said. Her intuition — an unease about what could happen.
That hunch gave way to horror when, as she was meeting with an administrator, a campus police officer entered the room with her son. He had been beaten, and the attack occurred while she was feet away, in another part of the building, seeking confirmation he would be safe.
“Just seconds the police escorted my son in. I could not believe what I was seeing.”
Daniels said she brought her son to an emergency room for treatment. He had bruises all over his body, along with a broken nose. Daniels said when she attempted to contact school administrators about the attack, her calls went unanswered. After two weeks of waiting, she took her son’s story to last week’s HISD trustee meeting, detailing the experience during a public comment period.
“My son had only been there three weeks. He is at home. And he has been since April first,” Daniels said to the trustee board, her voice cracking as she fought tears.
Daniels also told the board that she had transferred her son to Bellaire because he had been bullied at Lamar High School, adding previous incidents had been documented. After she spoke, Daniels said several trustees walked over to console her, as did a district administrator who told her she hadn’t heard about her son until then.
Since then, Daniels said HISD administration has been in constant contact with her, adding district leaders told her no one from Bellaire had informed them about the attack.
“No one even sent an incident report to the proper people, who they were supposed to send a report to,” Daniels lamented, questioning whether the school had her son’s best interest at heart.
A spokesperson for HISD confirmed to KPRC 2 the allegations were being investigated by the district administration.
“HISD Police is investigating and administrators will be looking into the cause of the altercation and continue to evaluate ways to prevent these occurrences in the future,” the district said Monday in a statement.
In the meantime, Daniels’ son has been out of school for eighteen days recovering. She said her son, who receives ongoing medical treatment and therapy, as a result of continued bullying, should be granted Homebound Services through the district, allowing him to finish the school year from home, as she secures plans for the following school year.
Daniels, the founder of Anita D. Designer Foundation, a non-profit that’s helped to provide PPE and other COVID-19 safeguards to communities in need, including HISD, expressed concern administrators at Bellaire High School ignored her requests for help.
“I feel that [my son] has been a target of gang-related crimes and he must be kept safe at this point,” Daniels said.
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A six-second video of a man firing a handgun — equipped with what appears to be an extended magazine — outside two Galleria restaurants is the latest burst of gun violence to unfold at the high-end Houston mall.
The gunman fires at least two rounds outside the mall’s Shake Shack — with the nearby Joey Uptown visible across the way — and spins around to flee, according to footage shared widely on social media. The short, blurry clip shows people running, yelling and scrambling to get away from the gunfire.
Police are investigating whether the video is connected to a shooting around 7 p.m. Saturday in which a man was shot in the leg and critically wounded, officials said.
The video, which was shared across multiple social media platforms by different users, gained more than 3.1 million views from one Twitter post alone.
The shooting happened in the 5000 block of Westheimer Road. Police found a man with a gunshot wound to the leg and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
What prompted the shooting was not known, police said. No arrests have been made.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said he discussed the shooting and mall security Monday with Chief Troy Finner.
“The Galleria is probably the last place anyone would want to do anything illegal,” Turner said, adding that the venue is packed with security cameras, inside the mall and out in the parking lots and garages.
He expects private security and HPD patrols to increase at the mall.
Spokespeople for the Galleria did not immediately return a request for comment.
In the afternoon, a security guard driving a cart cruised through a parking lot on Westheimer Road and three mounted patrol officers trotted past storefronts on horseback.
While the video caused a stir on social media, people at the Galleria on Monday seemed unfazed by the weekend shooting.
Shoppers streamed in and out of an entrance near the crime scene carrying bags and pushing strollers while cars packed garages and lots.
Christian Santamaria, 21, strolled into the mall with his girlfriend to visit the Samsung store for a new phone. He said he had not heard about the shooting before a reporter informed him.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” he said with a shrug. “Most of the time (shootings are) targeted.”
Sia Ngevao walked into the same entrance to exchange a blazer at H&M. She said she had heard about the shooting and was trying to get “in and out” of the mall.
“I mean, honestly, with anywhere that you go, there’s always going to be that risk of something like that going on or happening,” she said. “You just have to be careful and vigilant. It doesn’t matter where you are.”
Several other patrons said they were visiting from out-of-town and had not heard about the shooting.
One valet driver said he was working on Saturday when he heard gunshots from across the parking lot. It was a busy moment, though, so he quickly returned to work and was “not worried,” he said.
Violence at the highly-trafficked mall — which Simon Group says has more than 30 million visitors annually and which accrued about $1.03 billion in sales before the pandemic — has happened in the past.
The shooting comes within a month of another Galleria shooting in which a man was killed. Police responded on March 19 to a parking garage at 5150 Hidalgo Street and found the man, Joseph Lockhart, under a vehicle, believing that he was shot during a robbery and then run over by a driver also fleeing the gunfire.
Court records reveal that Lockhart may have stolen several boxes of Apple Air Pods, which police found scattered and covered in blood in the parking spot where he was shot.
Police arrested Roderick Moore, of Elkhart, on a capital murder charge in Lockhart’s death.
Moore told a roommate that he made a deal to buy the Air Pods at a discount from Lockhart but that he planned to rob him instead, according to court records. He thought Lockhart was reaching for a gun during the robbery and shot him, the records continued. A third roommate was with Moore at the time of the shooting but he has not been charged with a crime.
Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, multi-agency efforts have led to more than 233,000 migrant apprehensions, along with more than 13,600 criminal arrests — and more than 11,000 felony charges. Over 3,700 weapons and almost $30 million in currency have been seized. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 298 million lethal doses throughout the state.
Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border. Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Biden’s open border policies.
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATION LONE STAR:
Governor Abbott on met with Nuevo León Governor Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda at the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge in Laredo to discuss challenges along the Texas-Mexico border.
Following their meeting, Governor Abbott and Governor García signed a memorandum of understanding between the State of Texas and the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León to enhance border security measures that will prevent illegal immigration from Mexico to Texas and improve the flow of traffic across the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge. The agreement goes into effect immediately.
“Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive border security strategy that will protect our communities from the dangerous consequences related to illegal immigration,” said Governor Abbott. “Until President Biden enforces the immigration laws passed by Congress, Texas will step up and use its own strategies to secure the border and negotiate with Mexico to seek solutions that will keep Texans safe. This historic memorandum of understanding between Texas and Nuevo León is a major step in the Lone Star State’s efforts to secure the border in the federal government’s absence.”
First Two Buses Of Unlawful Migrants Arrive In Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the first two groups of unlawful migrants transported to Washington, D.C. were dropped off near the United States Capitol. This strategy is part of Governor Abbott’s response to the Biden Administration’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions. A third bus is currently en route to Washington, D.C.
Last week, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses to transport migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C.
The buses were filled with migrants from counties including Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
“As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe,” said Governor Abbott. “By transporting migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border.”
FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Is Removing Title 42 A National Security Threat?
Sara Carter examines the national security implications of illegal immigration at the southern border while on assignment with DPS’ Aircraft Operations Division.
View an additional report from Sarah Carter here.
Texas National Guard Conducts Riot Preparedness Exercises As Part Of Mass Migration Response Rehearsal
Members of the Texas National Guard have conducted training with riot gear in preparation of potential mass migration incursions into Texas following President Biden’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions.
WATCH: DPS Disrupts Smuggling Attempt, Apprehends 21 Migrants
Last week, DPS assisted in the disruption of a human smuggling attempt while conducting a traffic stop in Hebbronville. During the stop, 21 migrants were found hiding in wooden crates.
Texas National Guard Apprehends Migrants, Deters Human Smugglers
Members of the Texas National Guard apprehend multiple groups of men attempting to cross over the US-Mexico border illegally last week. The guard continues to assist DPS in deterring and apprehending criminal activity along the entire international border region in Texas.
Texas National Guard, DPS Conduct Maritime Operations On The Rio Grande River
The Texas National Guard tactical marine units and DPS are continuing to conduct maritime patrol activities on the Rio Grande River. The boat crews are the first line of defense against illegal activity crossing into Texas from Mexico.
WATCH: DPS Discusses Enhanced Vehicle Inspections On Fox News