Don't Mess With Texas! : Citizen shoots man attempting to hijack bus after multiple wrecks

Lots of people talk the talk, this man had the courage to walk the walk. Hero citizen.

HOUSTON – A wild crime spree ended in gunfire Tuesday when a citizen shot a suspect who was trying to hijack a Metro bus, Houston police said.

According to HPD, it all began at about 5:30 p.m. when Henry Hankston III, 37, carjacked a person who was visiting friends at a residence in the 5200 block of Fair Green in southeast Houston.

"Suspect had approached them, appeared to be under the influence of some kind of drugs, apparently came up and started assaulting the person and took his vehicle from him," said Sgt. Robert Torres, with HPD’s Homicide Division.

He said Hankston did not have a weapon, but used objects that he had picked up on the street.

"We were told that he was possibly on PCP, or his behavior was consistent with that of somebody who was on PCP—really hyper and extremely strong," Torres said.

Hankston fled northbound on Martin Luther King. About a block away from the carjacking, he struck the first vehicle and continued driving, Torres said.

"When he got to the intersection, he hit three other vehicles until he got to the point where his vehicle was disabled, got out of that vehicle and ran up to a bus that was turning through the intersection," Torres said.

Torres said the suspect entered the bus and began assaulting the driver, in an apparent attempt to hijack the bus, until the driver of a car idling behind the bus noticed what was happening.

"This person is a licensed concealed handgun carrier. He got out of the vehicle [and] went to the bus to try to intervene in the assault that was taking place," he said. "He did pull the suspect away from the driver and engaged in a physical confrontation with the suspect."

As the two men struggled, the gun discharged and struck the suspect in the upper abdomen, Torres said.

"He got up and went and sat in his own car which, by the way, was on fire, and waited there, shot, and he was still there when the police and paramedics got here," Torres said.

Hankston was transported to Ben Taub Hospital, where he was in surgery Tuesday night. He was reported to be in stable condition. The bus driver was also hospitalized with injuries to his face and head. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

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