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Shots fired at Houston airport

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:02:00 +0000

HOUSTON (AP) -- Shots were fired near a ticket counter at Houston's largest airport on Thursday, critically injuring at least one armed man and sending people in the terminal scrambling and screaming, a Houston police spokesman and witnesses said.

A call that there had been a "discharge of firearms" came into police at 1:35 p.m., John Cannon, the spokesman said. The shots were fired near the ticket counter in Terminal B at Bush Intercontinental Airport, he said. One person has been taken to an area hospital with life threatening injuries.

Dale Howard, of Tomball, was at the baggage handling area of the airport waiting for his sister to arrive on an incoming flight when he heard two shots fired from the floor above. A few seconds later, he said he heard three more shots.

"People were screaming. I knew exactly what it was - gunfire," Howard said.

Police from an adjacent station rushed in, and Howard said he directed them to the floor above.

Parts of the terminal remained blocked off as police investigated the shooting. The airport announced on its Twitter feed that the terminal had been closed and passengers would be redirected to other terminals.

When two guys married a tree

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:45:00 +0000

In June 2009, Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, known as the conceptual art duo the Art Guys, put on tuxes and walked down the aisle together at a marriage ceremony in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. It was nearly a year to the day after California’s Proposition 8, which sought to outlaw gay marriage, made it onto that state’s ballot, and gay marriage was, of course, still illegal in Texas. Not that it mattered. The two men getting “married” that morning were both heterosexual – in fact, they were both already married to women. As they approached the minister in front of gathered family, friends and local art lovers, the duo dragged behind them a wagon with a live oak sapling planted in a pot. Readings were recited, vows were spoken, and the guys slipped a brass shower curtain ring onto one of the naked branches of the little oak. The Art Guys proclaimed it all “art.” The piece was called "The Art Guys Marry a Plant."

Shots fired at Houston college

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:08:00 +0000

Updated, 5.0o p.m. EST: ABC's local affiliate reported that now "two people have been taken into custody" and "that the danger has been mitigated and the sitution is under control." One suspect was reportedly injured and "the other was arrested by a Houston Police Department SWAT team in a wooded area."

Updated, 3.05 p.m. EST: As the New York Daily News noted, the Lone Star shooting is the sixth to take place on a college campus this month alone.

Updated, 3.05 p.m. EST: According to reports of the two injured individuals, one is in critical condition. The Houston Chronicle reports, "Officials said two gunmen appeared to have been involved in the shooting. One of them was taken into custody a short time later. The other man is on the run. Law enforcement officials were searching the area near the campus, using tracking dogs."

ABC noted that police were searching for a man described as 6-foot-2 and wearing a Atlanta Falcons cap.

Police shoot dead mentally ill double-amputee

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:20:00 +0000

A mentally ill double-amputee in a wheelchair was shot dead by a Houston Police Department patrolman last weekend for waving a shiny pen in the air.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the FBI has now been called in to investigate the shooting and oversee the Houston Police Department's internal inquiry.

Brian Claunch, 45, was shot in the head early Saturday morning when his caregivers called police to his assisted home after he became distressed. Officer Matthew Marin says he was protecting his partner when he fatally shot Claunch, who was waving a shiny object in their direction (a pen).

The Chronicle notes: