Serious questions could come from police shooting video

(5/16/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- New surveillance video could raise serious questions about a Houston police officer's claims he feared for his life when he shot and killed a robbery suspect at an apartment complex. The video not only shows the suspect shot in the back, but it appears the officer ran after him to do it.

The officer-involved shooting happened Saturday in southwest Houston. On Wednesday, the attorney for the dead man's family tells us this video shows the shooting could have been avoided.

Besides just eyewitnesses and police accounts, there is also videotape evidence in the shooting. The video captured use of deadly force and the victim's family attorney says it raises questions.

"It doesn't look like a justified shooting in my opinion," said attorney Robert Luke.

He is representing the family of Hegnor Irias. Tuesday, he obtained the video from the apartment complex where the shooting happened. For now, he would only give Eyewitness News certain still shots from the video.

In them, you can see the 22-year-old run towards the officer. They come just a few feet from each other. Irias keeps running and then it appears the officer shoots him in the back and kills him.

K.R. Barnes, the officer involved, told investigators he feared for his life, but Luke isn't so sure that's what the video shows.

"I can't get into the officer's head, but it looks like Hegnor was trying to get away from the officer and not trying to go at him and it doesn't look like he was armed," said the attorney.

Police say they did recover a gun at the scene. It is one the department says Irias had used in two armed robberies just minutes before.

In response to the release of the pictures, HPD had this statement:

"The video only represents part of the context of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. It does not provide sound or other information known to the officer leading to the encounter. There were other people around, so the officer had to make a decision to protect not only his own life, but also those in the apartment complex."

Luke says Irias' relatives just want the truth.

"If there is something going wrong at the police department, we're going to figure it out," he said. "Because people should not be shot like this in my opinion."

Luke wants to see if an expert can enhance the video before he releases it in its entirety. Officer Barnes took three days off, which is standard in these situations. Investigators are still looking into the case and it should go to a grand jury for any possible charges.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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