Man shot, killed after police chase in Houston

HOUSTON -- A man who led police on a high-speed chase and pretended to have a child in the car with him was shot to death as the chase came to a crashing end.

The pursuit began at about 10:40 a.m. when the driver of a blue Chrysler 300 fled during a traffic stop. After several minutes of a high speed pursuit, during which the driver eluded police by going around patrol cars and driving into the grass, the chase came to a crashing halt. The suspect slammed into another vehicle at an intersection on Wallisville at Castlegory, then spun into another vehicle.

At that point the driver got out of the car and as he reached back inside the vehicle, officers opened fire, fatally striking him. Police say 10 to 12 shots were fired.

"He was given commands to show his hands and come out of the vehicle," said Thomas Gilliland, spokesperson for Harris County Sheriff's Office.

The man killed has been identified as Frank Ernest Shepherd, III. Police say he was alone in the car the entire time. Shepherd's claim of a child in the car was false.

Family members at the scene say Shepherd is 41 years old and is the father of three, with another child on the way.

Two people in the vehicles struck during the crash at the end of the chase suffered injuries. A man was checked out at the scene for minor injuries, and a young woman was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.

The end of the pursuit unfolded quickly, with only a matter of seconds elapsing between the time the suspect struck the white car and the time officers opened fire. HPD spokesperson John Cannon says two of the officers involved in the chase have been on the force for six years. He identified them as R Gonzales and L Engle. He didn't elaborate on the nature of their involvement. It's not yet known if they were wearing body cameras.

The chase ended near North Shore Middle School. According to Galena Park ISD officials, Havard Elementary School and North Shore Middle School were placed on 'lockout' status. Classes continued as scheduled, but with no one allowed in or out of the building, in an effort to shield students from the police activity.

The investigation is ongoing.