Snapchat video taken before a Harris County deputy shot a man Thursday afternoon shows the suspect coming toward the deputy, who was backing up with his gun drawn. In the video, Thomas didn't have his hands up as some witnesses said.
The video stops before 34-year-old Danny Thomas was shot and killed.
Witnesses told investigators Thomas was "acting erratically" in the intersection of Imperial Valley Drive and Greens Road before the shooting.
They said he had his pants around his ankles, was talking to himself and hitting vehicles as they passed by. Houston police say the driver of one of those vehicles stopped and got into a physical altercation with Thomas.
The deputy was driving by when he witnessed the fight, so he stopped and broke it up. According to HPD, Thomas then ignored verbal commands to stop as he walked toward the deputy.
“He thought he saw something in his hand, what it was exactly, we’re not sure yet,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Thursday. “But the male kept advancing toward the deputy.”
The deputy "fearing for his life" fired one shot and killed the man, according to HPD.
Relatives say Thomas never carried a gun.
They say he had been severely depressed since his wife murdered their two small children last year.
Police say his wife, Sheborah Thomas, drowned the children in a bathtub of a home in the Third Ward and then put their bodies beneath a neighbor’s house.
Danny Thomas was serving a prison sentence for drug possession at the time of the murders.
“We’ve been through everything together, he had my back through everything,” said Thomas’ sister Kita Thomas. “And he promised me wouldn’t leave me, and they didn’t leave. They took him from me.”
Family members say the father was never the same after the murder of his children.
“He wasn’t bothering nobody,” said uncle Detrick Thomas. “He was just going through whatever he was going through and this ended up happening.”
On Friday, officials urged people to reserve judgment until an investigation is complete.
“Whenever an officer-involved shooting happens in the city limits, regardless of the agency, HPD is going to go out and investigate that case,” said Houston Police Officers Union president Joe Gamaldi.
Gamaldi said this investigation will have multiple layers. He said although Thomas may not have been armed, it doesn’t mean the deputy involved didn’t feel his life was in danger.
“You know what I always tell the public is 'let’s wait, let’s make sure we get all the information possible, then we start passing judgment,'” said Gamaldi. “The worst thing we can do is make a snap judgment on a case before we have all the facts in.”
Thomas had an extensive criminal history dating back nearly two decades. It included arrests for burglary, theft, and drug possession.
The shooting is the 9th officer-involved shooting in Harris County so far this year. It's the 4th involving a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy. There’s no word on how long the investigation may last.