Cops shoot distraught woman at police headquarters

An odd story from HPD headquarters: Early Sunday morning, officers shot and killed a woman who lunged at them inside the building's lobby. It happened just after 2 a.m., when 42-year-old Marnell Villarreal showed up at the HPD building at 1200 Travis wanting to talk to an investigator. According to KTRK, officers sent her away because she had brought a weapon into the building before. She paced outside for a while, then came back into the lobby screaming, "Shoot me, kill me. I want to end this."

According to police, Villarreal ran through a metal detector in the lobby carrying a knife. "She basically came rushing in with a knife in a clutched fist, overhead," HPD spokesman Sgt. Nate McDuell said. The officers on duty, A.B. Clay and E.D. Smith, both told Villarreal to drop the knife, but she rushed toward Clay, who was standing in an open area of the room. She reportedly got within a few feet of Clay when Smith fired his Taser at her, but it didn't work: "We're not sure if the (Taser) darts made contact. It didn't appear to have any effect on her," McDuell said. Clay, who said he feared for his life, stepped back and fired a single shot into her chest. Villarreal was later pronounced dead at Memorial Hermann hospital.

It's not clear exactly what made Villarreal try to get into the police department. She initially tried to see an investigator about a case in which she was allegedly involved, and McDuell said she had apparently "made claims in the past of being victimized." KHOU reports she had notes on her at the time of the shooting "asking for her son back," though there were no more details on that.

HPD and the Harris County DA's office are investigating the incident, as is customary when an HPD officer shoots someone. Though Clay and Smith will be placed on three-day administrative leave, which will include counseling, McDuell said they're "not on any type of suspension or relieved status." Houston Police Officers' Union Executive Director Mark Clark called the incident a case of "suicide by cop," noting that Villarreal essentially gave Clay no choice but to shoot her. "What drove this person to do this? Now it's on some police officer's conscience," Clark said.