90-year-old Navy veteran fatally shot, run over during carjacking in retirement home parking lot, police say
A 90-year-old Navy veteran was fatally shot and run over during a carjacking outside a Houston retirement home over the weekend, police told KTRK-TV.
The victim has been identified as Nelson Beckett, the station said.
‘I think the neighborhood would feel safer if there were police patrols instead of just when something bad happens.’
Police told KTRK that Beckett was in the parking lot of Lonestar Living on Westbrae Parkway around 12:45 p.m. Saturday when a man in his late 20s approached the victim and began talking to him.
Investigators told the station that surveillance video shows the suspect attacking Beckett before shooting him and getting into the victim’s car. What’s more, police told KTRK the suspect ran over Beckett during the getaway.
Beckett was pronounced dead at a hospital, and his car was found abandoned at an apartment complex less than three miles away, the station said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case:,
The victim’s son, Tim Beckett, told KTRK in a follow-up story that he hopes the suspect is caught and that he’s “thankful” for the outpouring of support in the wake of his father’s killing.
Tim Beckett added to the station that his dad leaves behind two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. He also told KTRK that his father attended Abilene Christian University, worked in sales after his naval service, and was active at Southwest Central Church.
“What a foolish, brutal act against the mildest of men, an act that makes absolutely no sense,” Southwest Central senior minister Steve Sargent said during a Sunday service, according to the station.
Sargent also said Beckett attended a funeral at the church just days before he was killed, KTRK said.
Crime statistics from January until the end of June this year show at least 61 crime reports along Westbrae Parkway near where Beckett was killed, the station said, adding that 81 crime reports were filed for the same area over the entirety of 2023.
At least one neighbor who’s lived in the area for two decades added to the station that safety is a growing concern: “I think the neighborhood would feel safer if there were police patrols instead of just when something bad happens.”
Police asked anyone with information about Beckett’s killing to call 713-308-3600, KTRK said.
You can view a video report here about the fatal carjacking.
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