Woman shot and killed outside her apartment complex by officer in Baytown, Texas

Police said the officer was “forced” to shoot the woman after she grabbed the officer’s taser and used it against him

A woman was killed during an officer-involved shooting in Baytown, Texas, on May 13, 2019. From ONSCENE.TV

By Ben Kesslen NBC News

A woman was shot and killed during an altercation with a police officer Monday night in Baytown, Texas, after she resisted arrest and grabbed the officer’s taser, police said.

An officer in the city east of Houston was patrolling an apartment complex when he recognized a woman who lived there who he knew had prior warrants, police said.

When police tried to arrest the woman, 45, whose name they are not releasing at this time, she resisted arrest, said Steve Dorris, a Baytown police lieutenant and public information officer The officer was “forced to deploy his taser” on the woman, but it wasn’t “effective,” Dorris said. The woman grabbed the taser and used it on the officer who was trying to arrest her.

The woman’s actions “forced the officer to draw his duty weapon and fire multiple rounds at the suspect who was struck at least one time,” Dorris said.

She was declared dead at the scene and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is now assisting in the investigation, police said.

The fatal incident was recorded on social media and went viral, with some commenters questioning why the incident ended in the woman’s death.

In a Snapchat video of the incident (SEE VIDEO at:www.thewestsidegazette.com), the woman told the officer she was pregnant. Police and family members were not able to confirm whether the woman was pregnant, but her family told NBC’s Houston affiliate KPRC-TV that she had two children, both in their 20s.

Witnesses at the apartment complex told KPRC that the woman was “not a bad person,” and that she would “just walk around, smoke her cigarettes and walk her dogs.”

Another neighbor, Taylin Inniss, said she heard the shots, and when she learned that someone had been killed at her apartment complex, she didn’t believe it.

“They must’ve had a couple of words. Things went a whole different way, and he shot her, and I really feel for the family and I hope they get some type of justice,” Inniss said. “I just pray for them honestly because life is short nowadays.”

Baytown police are not naming the officer who shot the woman, but said he has worked as an officer for 11 years.