Texas Police Union Voices Outrage After Recently Released Career Criminal Fatally Stabs Grandma, 80



A Texas career criminal who was recently released from jail despite being arrested nearly 70 times is accused of fatally stabbing an 80-year-old woman out shopping Saturday, May 16, police said.

The suspect, 38-year-old Randy Lewis, was shot and killed by a responding officer who was flagged down by witnesses at the scene. Police said the man was armed with a 6-inch blade.

The incident sparked outrage from the Houston Police Officers’ Union, which blamed the “total failure” of criminal justice reform for his release weeks earlier — without paying bail.

* * * * *

A mental examination conducted in October 2019 deemed Lewis “temporarily incompetent,” and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital, KTRK reported. In March, a judge approved a request from the head of the mental facility that Lewis’ stay be extended by 60 days.

On April 30, a judge waived two bonds — one for felony theft, the second for the assault on the peace officer — and approved his transfer to a private residential care facility. By May 1,  he was released to the Royal Personal Care Home. He somehow escaped before Saturday’s incident, but few details were released by authorities.

“The defendant had a history of mental illness and he should have been kept off the streets. He recently absconded from the personal-care facility where the judge ordered he live instead of being held in jail,” the Houston District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.placeholder “The judge had not issued a warrant for his arrest even when he had absconded, so police did not even know to look for him and unfortunately this tragedy occurred before he could be returned to court.”

“Where’s the outrage when our cops are putting their lives on the line arresting the same person time and again who’s got a violent history?” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told KHOU.

He said the department would review body camera and security footage of the incident. He added the officer who shot Lewis was a nine-year veteran of the force.

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