HOUSTON — The Houston Police Department said officers were involved in a shooting with a man wanted in a carjacking in the Sharpstown area Friday morning.
Joseph Ceasar Taylor, 30, faces three counts of aggravated assault against a public servant, according to records. He is also charged with aggravated robbery.
HPD Assist. Chief Kevin Deese said the incident started out as a carjacking on Woodland Park near Meadowglen Lane at about 6:48 a.m. Officers then spotted the carjacker in the stolen sedan at about 7:20 a.m. behind the old Sharpstown Mall, now known as PlazAmericas, and began following him.
The officers tried to pull him over on Bellaire Boulevard, but the driver sped off. Police said he eventually crashed into an innocent driver, disabling the stolen car.
Taylor took off running to a nearby apartment complex, police said. After running through the complex, the man made it to a gate and could not go any farther.
Police ordered him to surrender but he refused. Police said the officers tried to use a Taser to stop him but it was not effective.
Taylor then ran around the gate to the courtyard. Police said he pulled out a gun and officers fired two shots at him.
Taylor continued running through the complex and went up a stairway before there was another round of shots fired at him from the officers, police said. That is the point where the man finally surrendered.
Taylor was hit in the lower leg and only suffered minor injuries, police said. He was taken to a hospital to be treated. Police said Taylor remains there and is currently stable.
Police said they found a total of three guns in his possession.
The driver who was the initial victim of the carjacking is said to be OK, just shaken up from the incident. The other people in the vehicle involved in the crash with the carjacker suffered minor injuries and are said to be OK as well.
Police said it is not clear if the carjacker fired at the officers during the chase.
Watch HPD's full briefing on the incident here.