Whisper
August 23rd, 2009, 11:54 PM
PASADENA, Texas—
A Pasadena police officer was fatally shot in the line of duty at a trailer park Friday morning.
Pasadena officer killed Jeremy Desel's 10 p.m. update on officer shooting
August 21, 2009
Officer Jesse Hamilton was responding to a domestic disturbance call near the intersection of Shaver and Queens around 6:30 a.m. But s ometimes the simple calls are the most dangerous.
"A domestic disturbance is so unpredictable. Sometimes things are benign, and sometimes they escalate to the level that happened this morning," said Asst. Chief Bud Corbett with the Pasadena Police Department.
When Hamilton arrived, he learned a man had been threatening his common-law wife.
Investigators said Hamilton was talking to the suspect’s mother on the front porch of the trailer when the wife, who was inside the home, shouted, “He’s got a gun!”
The shooting happened at a trailer park on Shavers.
Hamilton quickly called for backup.
Within seconds, the suspect came out and shot Hamilton in the head, according to investigators.
"I heard gunshots and screaming and got scared," said Manuela Varella, a neighbor.
A second officer pulled up and returned fire striking the suspect, 24-year-old Sergio Robles Jr., in the head.
The wounded officer was airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he died just after 7 a.m.
Police said Hamilton was 29 years old and had a wife and two young kids. He’d been an officer with the Pasadena Police Department for four years, and before that he was a dispatcher.
Robles was also airlifted to Memorial Hermann, where he was in serious condition at last check.
11 News has learned that Robles was just released from jail Thursday after serving 30 days on a DWI charge.
He also served 10 days behind bars in 2004 for discharging a firearm in Pasadena.
Robles, who has a history of mental problems, won a $125,000 lawsuit against the Santa Fe Police Department earlier this year.
Sergio Robles, Jr.
The lawsuit accused two officers of beating him after they found him walking down the middle of a road at night in 2006.
The beating was caught on the squad car's dashcam.
The officers arrested Robles for resisting arrest, but he was later cleared by a jury.
Robles later said he'd been off his meds and was confused that night. He said he was also distraught because his father had died three days before.
Officer Jesse Hamilton
Both Robles' wife and mother are cooperating with police.
Hamilton is only the fourth Pasadena police officer to lose his life in the line of duty and the first in 16 years.
One of those was Jeff Ginn, who was killed in 1991 by a mentally ill suspect who ambushed him.
“It [the shooting] just brings it all back. My little girls were two and five. Now they are 20 and 23, but they still deal with it over and over again--the loss of their father," said Ginny Wagner, Ginn’s widow.
No one can know what the Hamilton family is going through, except for perhaps Wagner. She says she is there for the Hamilton’s if they need her.
"I'm not quite sure when and how to do that [reach out to her]. But I feel for her and I am at a loss of what to do for her because I'd love to help her and her children," said Wagner.
Friends, family and co-workers are already feeling the loss of the Jesse Hamilton.
"It has not happened very often in Pasadena," said Corbett. "We just wish that it was more rare than it is."
A sentiment shared by neighbors who heard the gunfire that claimed an officer's life.
"It's upsetting. An innocent person being hurt," said Sabrina Runyan. "Especially an innocent person like Officer Hamiltonhttp://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090821_tnt_pasadena-police-officer-shot.1002c0e09.html http://i26.tinypic.com/2u6znkz.jpg<Sergio http://i30.tinypic.com/2elva78.jpg<Jesse Hamiltom
A Pasadena police officer was fatally shot in the line of duty at a trailer park Friday morning.
Pasadena officer killed Jeremy Desel's 10 p.m. update on officer shooting
August 21, 2009
Officer Jesse Hamilton was responding to a domestic disturbance call near the intersection of Shaver and Queens around 6:30 a.m. But s ometimes the simple calls are the most dangerous.
"A domestic disturbance is so unpredictable. Sometimes things are benign, and sometimes they escalate to the level that happened this morning," said Asst. Chief Bud Corbett with the Pasadena Police Department.
When Hamilton arrived, he learned a man had been threatening his common-law wife.
Investigators said Hamilton was talking to the suspect’s mother on the front porch of the trailer when the wife, who was inside the home, shouted, “He’s got a gun!”
The shooting happened at a trailer park on Shavers.
Hamilton quickly called for backup.
Within seconds, the suspect came out and shot Hamilton in the head, according to investigators.
"I heard gunshots and screaming and got scared," said Manuela Varella, a neighbor.
A second officer pulled up and returned fire striking the suspect, 24-year-old Sergio Robles Jr., in the head.
The wounded officer was airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he died just after 7 a.m.
Police said Hamilton was 29 years old and had a wife and two young kids. He’d been an officer with the Pasadena Police Department for four years, and before that he was a dispatcher.
Robles was also airlifted to Memorial Hermann, where he was in serious condition at last check.
11 News has learned that Robles was just released from jail Thursday after serving 30 days on a DWI charge.
He also served 10 days behind bars in 2004 for discharging a firearm in Pasadena.
Robles, who has a history of mental problems, won a $125,000 lawsuit against the Santa Fe Police Department earlier this year.
Sergio Robles, Jr.
The lawsuit accused two officers of beating him after they found him walking down the middle of a road at night in 2006.
The beating was caught on the squad car's dashcam.
The officers arrested Robles for resisting arrest, but he was later cleared by a jury.
Robles later said he'd been off his meds and was confused that night. He said he was also distraught because his father had died three days before.
Officer Jesse Hamilton
Both Robles' wife and mother are cooperating with police.
Hamilton is only the fourth Pasadena police officer to lose his life in the line of duty and the first in 16 years.
One of those was Jeff Ginn, who was killed in 1991 by a mentally ill suspect who ambushed him.
“It [the shooting] just brings it all back. My little girls were two and five. Now they are 20 and 23, but they still deal with it over and over again--the loss of their father," said Ginny Wagner, Ginn’s widow.
No one can know what the Hamilton family is going through, except for perhaps Wagner. She says she is there for the Hamilton’s if they need her.
"I'm not quite sure when and how to do that [reach out to her]. But I feel for her and I am at a loss of what to do for her because I'd love to help her and her children," said Wagner.
Friends, family and co-workers are already feeling the loss of the Jesse Hamilton.
"It has not happened very often in Pasadena," said Corbett. "We just wish that it was more rare than it is."
A sentiment shared by neighbors who heard the gunfire that claimed an officer's life.
"It's upsetting. An innocent person being hurt," said Sabrina Runyan. "Especially an innocent person like Officer Hamiltonhttp://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090821_tnt_pasadena-police-officer-shot.1002c0e09.html http://i26.tinypic.com/2u6znkz.jpg<Sergio http://i30.tinypic.com/2elva78.jpg<Jesse Hamiltom