HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.

She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

"Fearing for his partner's safety and his own safety, he discharged his weapon," Silva told The Associated Press.

Police did not immediately release the name of the man who was killed. They had been called to the home after a caretaker there called and reported that the man in wheelchair was causing a disturbance.

The owner of the group home, John Garcia, told the Houston Chronicle that the man had a history of mental illness and had been living at the house about 18 months. Garcia said the man had told him that he lost a leg above the knee and all of one arm when he was hit by a train.

"He sometimes would go off a bit, but you just ignore it," Garcia told the newspaper.

Silva identified the officer as Matthew Jacob Marin, a five-year veteran of the department. He was immediately placed on three-day administrative leave, which is standard in all shootings involving officers.

Houston police records indicate that Marin also fatally shot a suspect in 2009. Investigators at the time said Marin came upon a man stabbing his neighbor to death at an apartment complex and opened fired when the suspect refused to drop the knife.

On Saturday, Marin and his partner arrived at the group home around 2:30 a.m. Silva said there were several people at the house at the time. The caretaker who called police waited on the porch while the officers went inside, she said.

"It was close quarters in the area of the house," Silva said. "The officer was forced into an area where he had no way to get out."

they taze pregnant women for talking on a cell phone, but have to shoot people in a wheelchair for waving a pen?

Had to be in an electric chair or else he'd been going in circles.

The electric ones go fast. They are hard to outrun.



Even if you're trying to hide.

Stop it.

Excellent post, thanks OP. Police violence is epidemic in this country, thanks in large part to militarization courtesy of Uncle Sam. I encourage you to follow William Norm Grigg's columns on Pro Liberate: http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com

side note on what you just said - I was at a store here in Houston, and a cop pulled up in a new charger, witch was black and white... the police cars here are painted blue, and they wear blue uniforms in Houston. the cop that got out was in a black uniform, and started talking to him about the change, and he said it was a federal mandate, that all police agencies across the nation are all going to black and white, to be more visible as police. he didn't seem very happy about it either, and was very willing to tell me about the change...

more visible?
More intimidating most likely!
I seem to remember the Ft.Lauderdale Fla.-Police would be out at night in black Uniforms back in the seventies!
Not a pleasant thing to look at,considering what Forces used the black Uniforms!

I was speaking to a local policeman recently and he told me that the rules of arrest had been rewritten by homeland security regarding what was considered a "threat".

wouldn't surprise me one bit!