2015-16647
Officer Involved Shooting
At 12:21 this morning, our Department received a report of an armed man wearing camouflage clothing standing in the intersection of W. Texas and Gaillard. A responding police officer saw the man, later identified as 21 year old Benjamin Quezada, carrying a rifle in a “low ready” position while walking east from the intersection on W. Texas.
Quezada was ordered to drop the rifle. He looked over his shoulder at the officer but continued walking. The officer gave him two more commands to drop the rifle before Quezada stopped, turned toward the officer and pointed the rifle in his direction. The officer, a fourteen year veteran of the Baytown Police Department, fired his service weapon at Quezada – ending the confrontation. Quezada succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The officer was unharmed and will be on paid, administrative leave for three days.
An investigation into the shooting showed Quezada’s rifle to be an air powered pellet gun that resembles an authentic AR15 assault rifle. This case is being jointly investigated by the Baytown Police Department, Harris County District Attorney’s Office and Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.