HOUSTON – A shooting by a police officer in Houston injured a baby boy and killed a man who was driving a car linked to several robberies, authorities said.
Officers tried to pull over a black Mercedes about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday because the car had been connected to several aggravated robberies, Houston Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said. The driver did not stop, crashed and then ran to a gas station, where a woman was outside her vehicle pumping gas, Finner said.
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The man jumped into the woman's vehicle and a responding officer saw that he had a gun. The officer opened fire, killing the man but also striking a 1-year-old boy who was in the backseat, Finner said.
The officer did not know the boy was in the vehicle, Finner said.
“Pray for this 1-year-old and that mother," he said. "Can you imagine pumping gas and having to go through this?”
Police said early Thursday that the baby was critically injured, but that by mid-morning his condition had improved to stable.
The officer who opened fire will be paid on administrative leave pending an investigation, he said. The name of the man who was killed was not immediately released, but Finner said he was about 30 years old.