It reads like a story straight out of the Wild West. A gang of masked robbers swapping out horses, robbing stores at gunpoint, the sheriff and his deputies hot on their trail.
According to police in Houston, their department faced just such a scenario Thursday when officers tracked, confronted, and opened fire at a gang of five robbery suspects accused of wild crime spree across the city of Houston that ended in a violent confrontation outside a furniture store they were suspected of having just robbed.
The shootout between the criminal gang ended in with two of the accused dead and two injured, police said.
Police spokesman John Cannon said five police officers fired their weapons but that none was injured in the incident late Thursday.
The gang members apparently thought they were outsmarting police and getting away with their crimes. But it turns out a tactical team had been monitoring the group following a series of robberies earlier in the day.
One injured suspect was taken to a hospital with an undisclosed injury. Another was treated by paramedics at the scene then taken into custody, along with another suspect who was not hurt, Cannon said.
“Officers discharged their weapons either because the suspects pointed weapons at them or they were fearful suspects were running toward other businesses, which had citizens in them,” Cannon said.
Two guns belonging to the suspects were recovered at the scene, and Cannon said officers were searching the area but didn’t believe there are other suspects.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Cannon said the men had been on a crime spree throughout the day and were changing vehicles to evade capture, and that police lost sight of them for a while before catching up with the group as they exited the Affordable Furniture store Thursday night.
Taj Ali, the owner of Affordable Furniture, told the newspaper that an employee who was inside during the holdup said the gunmen were wearing masks. She said one pointed a gun and asked if the store had a safe.
“She didn’t have the key and we don’t keep any money in it,” Ali said. “Then, one of them hollered, ‘Let’s go,’ and that was the end of the story.”
The furniture store, located on an access road near Interstate 45 in northern Houston, was open at the time of the robbery. The suspect who was not hurt had posed as a store employee and tried to hide in a truck parked in front of the business, Cannon said.
One of the suspects was wearing an ankle monitor, but Cannon didn’t have details of his criminal record.
Cannon said it wasn’t immediately clear if the suspects had fired any shots, and said the group was already suspected in multiple robberies in the area Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Thugs and other scum beware…Cops & Houston biz owners can & will shoot you dead !
The ankle monitor tells me these hoodlums had already stood before a judge in the past. At least the two that were killed will never cause problems again. It’s a shame that the whole gang didn’t get sent to the morgue. The surviving gang members should face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in a federal work prison.
The only way these hoodlums can be stopped is to put them in jail for life. But due to our right to have an attorney that the citizens pay for I doubt they will get any more than 5 yrs in jail.
At $40,000.00 a year to keep each of them in jail….. Does it really take a rocket scientist to figure out that one bullet costs around 6 cents each. Screw the Politically Correct and reinstate the DEATH PENALTY.
There are a lot of geniuses in prison.
They obviously wouldn’t
have done their crimes if they thought they’d be caught. Right? My father
Dad always used to tell us, “The best thing about stupid people is that they
think they’re smart.”. He
also used to tell us to always tell the truth because lying ends up being too much work. You have to rember the lie, who you told it to, and, and, and….. He said
that if you mess up, admit it, take your lumps, and move on. We rarely got
away with anything. Mom
and Dad weren’t mean, didn’t over punish, but consistently taught us right from wrong, politeness, and so many
other life lessons, that I often thank God that we were born to them.
“What you do today determines who you are tomorrow”!
These criminals see what other cities that believe in the Barack Hussien Obama doctrine let criminals get away with and think they will either get away with criminal behavior or Obama will not allow them to be prosercuted because they are only doing what they have to too get buy in life. This illegal alien president has destroyed this country. Just look at Internet stories where criminals selling drugs or breaking into other people’s houses and their friends or families say that they were only doing what they had to too make money. This is Obams doctrine. Police are bad but killers, drug dealers, arsonist and rioters are only diong this because white people have oppressed them. Uneducated because they choose to be not because white tax payers have not payed for opportunities for them. Thank you Barack Obama and by the way Mr. Obama thinks he needs a raise because he has done such a great job destroying this country.
I love it when a plan comes together. These officers are the best. Obama will probably give these criminals a badge of honor and Hillary will be handing them to the thugs with Biden and Kerry clapping behind them. This administration has this theory that if you don’t want to work and want to steal you are to be rewarded. I’m 65 and things sure have changed since I was a young adult.
Excuse me but aren’t those ankle monitors IDed to each client? Brains was evidently not there strong point.
six cents to shoot them? what the hell ya using a pellet gun?
I think the SRT needs a little more range time.All 5 THUGS should have been carried by 6. Well ok ,they did get 2 . Thumbs up SRT.