Police in the town of Hitchcock, Texas, which is on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, just shot and killed a 54-year-old man who was suspected of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who he had met online.
The shooting happened when the Hitchcock police officers attempted, on March 7, to serve an arrest warrant on George Alejandro, the 54-year-old, for the alleged sexual assault. Police investigators had interviewed Alejandro regarding the alleged sexual assault of the 13-year-old before the police served the warrant. She made her allegations against him on February 16th. In any case, once the police officers arrived at his location in southeast Houston, Alejandro tried to flee in an “18-wheeler-style truck” according to KHOU CBS 11.
As he was in a big rig and the cops were in nimbler and faster cop cars, the pursuit lasted only for a short while. Alejandro then pulled the truck into a business parking log, exiting his getaway vehicle with a rifle and pointing it at the police officers. He then said, “I’m not going back,” presumably meaning that he didn’t intend on getting arrested and going to prison.
Two of the officers chasing him then fired their service weapons an unknown number of times, striking Alejandro. He later succumbed to those injured in Houston’s Memorial Herman Hospital.
Fox 26 reported, “During an interview with detectives, court documents said the 54-year-old admitted to meeting the child near her school, picking her up, and taking her to a hotel in Hitchcock.”
Galveston County Daily News reported much the same thing, saying, “The man Hitchcock Police shot to death Tuesday in Houston had previously admitted to detectives he had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, authorities allege.”
Breitbart added more details on the suspected child rapist, saying, “Court records for a George Alejandro appearing to match the subject’s age obtained by Breitbart Texas reveal a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1991. Alejandro, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to a felony gun possession charge in 1992 and has several other misdemeanor charges.”
Crime is a serious problem in Houston. Houston Public Media reports that though violent crime is down somewhat, property crime is up substantially. Reporting on that, it said:
Violent crime in Houston was a hot topic for most of last year, including on the campaign trail for candidates in November’s election. The Houston Police Department presented their 2022 crime analysis to city council members on Wednesday. The detailed summary report highlighted violent crime across Houston decreased for 2022 throughout all council districts.
According to HPD, the latest crime analysis for last year shows overall violent crime was down 8% and the murder rate was down 9% compared to 2021. There were 435 murders last year, compared to 477 the year before. The report also showed a decrease in other violent crime categories with robberies down by 9%, aggravated assaults down by 8%, and sexual assaults down by 18%.
“At the beginning of the year, we had a rough year in 2022, but One Safe Houston then came in and we got on top of that, just to make sure we clarify the effectiveness of One Safe Houston,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Houston, just like other major cities, saw an increase in crime after the pandemic and started last year with a significant spike in violent crimes. Last year, violent crime numbers were much higher at the beginning of the year which prompted Mayor Turner to create his $55 million One Safe Houston crime Initiative, to tackle violent crime in the city.
Police Chief Troy Finner says Houston has made progress, but crime numbers can be better.
“I am eternally grateful and extremely proud of what we have done and there’s still work to be done,” he said.
Although violent crime rates have decreased, the city saw an 11% increase in property crimes because of more thefts involving catalytic converters and firearms. HPD said there were a total 15,645 cases of theft of vehicle parts in 2022 which includes catalytic converters. In 2022, 4,140 guns were stolen from vehicles compared to 3,700 in 2021.
“That’s up 2,000 from the previous year,” said Assistant Chief of Police Wyatt Martin. “And we were already dealing with catalytic converter theft in the previous year, so that is driving our theft numbers, that’s heavily driving our non-violent crime numbers.”
The report also stated in 2022, for the fifth consecutive year, HPD officers and investigators arrested more than 21,000 individuals charged with felony offenses, totaling more than 105,000 arrests.
Featured image credit: Hitchcock Police Department
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