By Kevin Moran
Houston Chronicle
HEMPSTEAD, Texas — Two Hempstead police officers fatally shot a man who was reported to have been terrorizing his parents and then refused to drop his gun when police arrived, Hempstead Police Chief Glenn Smith said today.
Jason Paul Krolczyk, 33, was waiting with a pistol at the kitchen door of his parents’ home on Brassie Drive after the parents called police, Smith said in a statement released today.
Police ordered him to drop the pistol but he refused, Smith said.
“Two officers from the Hempstead Police Department fired multiple rounds at the suspect,” Smith said in the statement.
Krolczyk’s parents reported they locked themselves in a bedroom after their son threatened them with a 9 mm. pistol.
Waller County Justice of the Peace Charles Karish pronounced Krolczyk dead at the home and ordered an autopsy to be scheduled. Hempstead is about 54 miles northwest of downtown Houston on Highway 290.
Texas Rangers were called to the home to conduct an investigation, Smith said.
Smith declined to release the officers’ names but said they have been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation proceeds.
One of the officers joined the department in May 2007 but has prior police experience. The other, who joined in October 2006, also has prior police expererience, Smith said.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle