Charion Lockett was sitting in the front seat of his car in the driveway of his house when he was ѕһᴏт and ᴋɪʟʟᴇԀ by Houston police serving an arrest warrant last month.
But body cam video shows he probably was not even aware they were cops.
After all, not only did the cops first pull up in an unmarked car, they never announced themselves as officers.
And not only was Lockett a licensed ɡᴜп owner with a clean criminal record, he had earned a master’s degree in criminal justice and was planning on entering law school, according to family members, which does not exactly fit the profile of a man who needed to be taken down with a surprise raid.
On the other hand, the man who instigated the warrant, an old high school classmate of Lockett who accused him of aggravated ɑѕѕɑᴜʟт with a wᴇɑρᴏп back in November, has an extensive criminal record, according to ABC 13, which does not make him the most credible victim. His name has not been released.
But Houston police took him at his word when they asked a judge to sign a warrant in December which was rejected. But they tried again last month and the judge signed the warrant.
The incident took place on February 7, 2022, just over three years after Houston police participated in a botched raid that resulted in two innocent people Ԁʏɪпɡ and two officers convicted on felony charges.
And like the previous incident, this one took place under questionable circumstances in how police obtained the warrant, acting solely on an unfounded accusation from an unreliable source without further investigation or due diligence.
Raising further questions is the allegation from Lockett’s mother, Shanette Lewis, that Houston police had called her earlier that day to inform her her son had a warrant which she said was the first her family had learned about it.
Lewis said her son also received a call that morning, about an hour before he was ᴋɪʟʟᴇԀ, accusing him of having missed a court date on February 4 which she says he did not know about.
“He’s a little shaken up,” attorney Tim Foley who is representing Lockette’s family, told the Associated Press.
“He goes and sits in his car, which according to mom is what he does on a regular basis. He sits in his car and he meditates and he prays.”
The fallout from the 2019 botched raid which was not caught on camera resulted in Houston police officers having to wear body cameras when conducting raids. Houston police also introduced a policy requiring body camera footage to be released to the public within 30 days in incidents resulting in Ԁᴇɑтһ or injury.
As a result, Houston police released several body camera videos from the raid, allowing us to see with our own eyes what took place that day.
One video shows a cop riding passenger in the unmarked car opening his door and sticking his ɡᴜп out when two ɡᴜпѕһᴏтѕ can be heard, presumably from Lockett’s ɡᴜп even though it is not visible in the video.
The plainclothes cop pulls his ɡᴜп back into the car for a split-second after hearing the ѕһᴏтѕ before sticking it out the door again and fɪгɪпɡ several times.
Seconds after the ѕһᴏᴏтɪпɡ, a marked police SUV pulls up and both cops begin fɪгɪпɡ. More cops arrive afterwards, most in unmarked cars.
Lockett was ᴋɪʟʟᴇԀ in the doorway of his house trying to run inside for safety.
“He’s down, he’s down,” says Houston police officer Deven Inocencio, the plainclothes cop who first opened fɪгᴇ.
“What did he ѕһᴏᴏт at?” another officer asks moments later.
“He ѕһᴏт at us in the Lincoln,” responds Inocencio.
In other words, Lockett had no idea he was ѕһᴏᴏтɪпɡ at police because the marked SUV, the second cop car to pull up to the scene, arrived seconds after the ѕһᴏᴏтɪпɡ started.
Watch the video below:
