HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A couple who lives near the Cypress woman who was shot and killed in her home Friday was shocked to realize the suspect arrested barged into their home with a gun.
Christopher Braziel, 42, was arrested on Sunday and charged with murder in the shooting death of 48-year-old Heather Smith. The victim's boyfriend found her body inside her home on Beechmoor Drive home in the Hearthstone neighborhood.
"We found out about the murder on Friday, you know," said a neighbor who didn't want to be identified. "The entire neighborhood was buzzing.”
She said Braziel was the same man seen in surveillance video outside their home on Saturday, the day after Smith's body was found.
"And my husband’s just standing there and he’s just like “I have to call the police,'” the neighbor told us.
She said Braziel, armed with what appears to have been a gun with an extra clip, actually entered the house through the garage before spotting her husband.
"He says, 'Are you looking for someone?'" the woman told us. "And he (Braziel) turns around and says, 'Hey man, got the wrong house, sorry about that.'"
Right now, any possible connection between Braziel and Smith, other than living in the same community, remains under investigation.
The neighbors only know of Braziel through mutual Facebook friends but they were left spooked by their strange encounter.
"He opened that door and he changed his mind for whatever reason," the neighbor said. "And I’m so thankful to God that the protection of the Holy Spirit was at our house that day.”
Braziel, whose family and public defender declined comment, appeared in criminal court for the first time Tuesday and is being held without bond on a capital murder charge.
Braziel has a previous deadly conduct charge involving yet another neighbor.
We're told surveillance taken from Smith's home helped lead to his arrest.
