A grand jury will determine whether a customer at a Houston restaurant will face charges after fatally shooting a man who pointed a gun that appeared real at customers and took their cash last week, a shooting that several legal experts said appears justified.
Following the shooting late on Jan. 5, police asked for the public’s help in identifying the man who fatally shot the robber, who wielded a plastic gun, because he left the restaurant before officers arrived. By Monday, police said they had questioned the 46-year-old man and after consulting with prosecutors, determined that the shooting would be referred to a grand jury. Police said they aren’t releasing the man’s name because he has not been arrested or charged.
In Texas, it is legal for anyone 21 and older to carry a handgun in public without a license, background check or training. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, over 30 states in the U.S. allow people to openly carry a handgun without a license or permit.
TEXAS JURY ACQUITS MAN WHO FATALLY SHOT OFF-DUTY HOUSTON OFFICER, MAN CLAIMED SELF DEFENSE
Witnesses told police that a man — later identified as 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington — had entered the restaurant wearing a ski mask and gloves, and began pointing what looked like a gun at customers while demanding money. Then, police said, one of the customers took out his gun and shot Washington multiple times. After shooting Washington, the customer collected the stolen money from Washington’s body and returned it to the other customers before leaving the scene.
Police said investigators found that the suspect had a plastic gun.
Former prosecutor Joanne Musick also told KHOU television station that she sees the man’s actions as self defense, but wasn’t surprised that the case would be presented to a grand jury. She said it wouldn’t be the kind of case that a district attorney would take over the phone — or by reviewing the evidence and filing a charge.
“That means that it’s too close to call,” she said.
A 46-year-old Texas man will be investigated by a grand jury following the public shooting of an attempted robber inside a restaurant.
A spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in an email Tuesday that the case “is somewhat unusual,” so prosecutors “thought it appropriate to present it to a grand jury as soon as possible to determine whether a criminal case is warranted.”
Houston police Detective Jeff Brieden told KHOU that…
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