Police officers gather at the hospital where two Houston police officers were sent to after being shot while serving an arrest warrant on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. Authorities say a Houston police officer was killed and another was wounded during a shooting that also killed a 31-year-old man who the officers were attempting to arrest. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Republished September 20, 2021 - 7:30 PM
Original Publication Date September 20, 2021 - 7:11 AM
HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston police officer was killed and another was wounded Monday morning during a shooting that also killed a 31-year-old man whom the officers were attempting to arrest on drug charges, authorities said.
The veteran officers were each shot multiple times while attempting to serve an arrest warrant at an apartment complex on the city's northeast side, Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a news conference.
"This has been a tragic day today,” Turner said. “It is another reminder that police work is inherently dangerous.”
Senior Officer William Jeffrey, who joined the Houston Police Department in 1990, was pronounced dead at a hospital following the shooting, authorities said. He was 54. Sgt. Charles Vance, who joined the department in 1998, was in stable condition, according to police Chief Troy Finner. Vance is 49.
The officers arrived at the apartment around 7:30 a.m., knocked on the door and spoke with a woman who answered it, Finner said. He said the man then came out and began shooting at the officers.
“You’ve got a suspect with a female girlfriend with small kids in that apartment complex and he still fired upon our officers,” Finner said. He said police returned fire and that the man died on the scene.
Authorities didn’t identify the man the officers were attempting to arrest. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.
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This story has been corrected to show that Vance joined the department in 1998.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021