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Suspect charged in Houston deaths of eight people - including five children Suspect charged in Houston deaths of eight people - including six children
(about 3 hours later)
A man was charged with capital murder after five children and three adults were found dead at a house in suburban Houston on Saturday night. A man with a history of violence killed six children and two adults in a domestic dispute before surrendering after a shootout, police said.
Police said they arrived at the home to conduct a welfare check and spotted a body. When they entered the property, gunfire rang out. David Conley, a 48-year-old with a string of arrests and convictions, entered his former partner’s house on a quiet street in suburban Houston on Saturday night, restrained his victims with handcuffs and fatally shot them, according to police. He has been charged with multiple counts of capital murder.
A 49-year-old suspect police identified as David Conley was arrested “after members of the Harris County sheriff’s office High Risk Operations Unit and Hostage Negotiation Team negotiated his surrender,” police said in a statement. Officers were called to make a welfare check requested by a relative of Valerie Jackson, Conley’s ex-girlfriend, police told reporters on Sunday.
Court records showed more than 20 state and federal cases involving Conley dating back to the 1980s, including several indictments for assault of a family member and a 2013 conviction. No one answered the door at the single-storey home about 15 miles north of downtown, said Tim Cannon, chief deputy with the Harris County sheriff’s office. When officers ran a criminal history check they discovered an outstanding assault warrant in Conley’s name. Then then saw the body of a child through a window.
Thomas Gilliland, a sheriff’s office spokesman, told the Houston Chronicle special response officers were called to the scene after no one came to the door and deputies discovered that a warrant had been issued last month to a man at the house, regarding an alleged assault of a family member. “Deputies forced entry and were met with gunfire, withdrew and established a perimeter,” Cannon said.
They then spotted a child’s body while looking through windows and entered the home and the suspect began shooting, he said. A specialist tactical unit and a hostage negotiation team arrived and Conley gave himself up. The incident lasted several hours, Cannon said.
“The killer’s motives appear to be related to a dispute with Valerie, who was his former partner,” he said.
Police named the dead adults as Jackson, 40, and her husband, Dewayne Jackson, 50. One of the children was believed to be Conley’s, they said – Nathaniel, aged 13. The others, aged between six and 11 and with the surname Jackson, were Jonah, Caleb, Trinity, Honesty and Dewayne Jr.
Police initially said three adults and five children had died because of uncertainty about the age of Nathaniel, who was tall. All the victims were shot and found in the house’s three bedrooms. The majority had been restrained with handcuffs, said Sergeant Craig Clopton, the lead investigator.
Asked earlier in the day about reports of previous welfare checks, Clopton said police had no legal basis to enter the house at that point. Jackson had changed the locks, police said, but Conley appeared to have gained entry through an open window.
Court records show a string of cases involving Conley dating back to the 1980s, including theft, robbery with threats, evading arrest, retaliation, possession of crack cocaine and assault.
According to a court document, last month Conley allegedly pushed Jackson’s head against a refrigerator in the house multiple times because he was angry that she had failed to discipline her 10-year-old son when he came back from the park after dark. He planned to punish the child with a belt, the record states.
In 2013, Conley was convicted of threatening Jackson with a knife and sentenced to nine months in jail. After he was charged an emergency protective order banning him from making contact with Jackson and her family for three months was issued by a magistrate.
As investigators went in and out of the property on Sunday morning, a dozen neighbours gathered at the yellow crime scene tape that cordoned off the entrance to the street, a tree-lined road about 15 miles north of downtown Houston with neat, modern houses. One said that it was a quiet, nice place to live.As investigators went in and out of the property on Sunday morning, a dozen neighbours gathered at the yellow crime scene tape that cordoned off the entrance to the street, a tree-lined road about 15 miles north of downtown Houston with neat, modern houses. One said that it was a quiet, nice place to live.
It is the second mass shooting at a home in suburban north Houston in a little over a year. In July 2014 Ronald Haskell, a 33-year-old with a history of family-related violence, was charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of a family of six: two parents and their four children, aged from four to 13. A 15-year-old girl survived the shootings, which occurred in the town of Spring. It is the second mass shooting at a home in suburban north Houston in little over a year. In July 2014 Ronald Haskell, who had a history of family-related violence, was charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of two parents and four children, aged from four to 13. A 15-year-old girl survived the shootings in the town of Spring
Police were set to provide more information on the Houston shootings at a press conference scheduled for 4pm ET. “Once again a senseless tragedy has struck our community,” Cannon said.