6 Houston Officers Fired for Role in Fatal Shooting of Man in Raid

HOUSTON —  Six police officers were fired Monday for their role in a bungled drug bust in which a Mexican immigrant was surprised in his home and killed in a storm of bullets.

The officers stormed into the home of Pedro Oregon Navarro without warning, acting on an informant’s tip that there were drugs in the apartment. The officers found no drugs, but Oregon was shot 12 times, including nine times in the back.

The 22-year-old Oregon, who worked as a landscaper, coached girl’s soccer and had two children, died later that day. Police found an undischarged gun near his body but no evidence of drugs. The killing prompted several marches and public denunciations, largely from the city’s Latino community. It also set into motion separate inquiries by a grand jury, the FBI and the police.

While the grand jury cleared five of the officers of all charges and charged the sixth only with trespassing, Police Chief Clarence Bradford ordered the firings for a series of violations, including official oppression, defying search and seizure rules and lying to investigators.

Mayor Lee Brown, the former police chief of New York City, backed the chief. “Officers are hired to protect the citizens. It’s a sad situation when any citizen loses his life in our city, but even more so when it happens [due to] the very people who protect them. . . . Police officers can’t break the law to enforce it.”

Richard Mithoff, the Oregon family’s attorney, also lauded the firings but said the killing reflected systemic problems in the Police Department. He plans to file a civil lawsuit against the city on behalf of the family early next week, based on complaints about police recruiting, enforcement and supervision procedures.

“I think we need to take a hard look at the underlying system,” Mithoff said. “We’re trying to determine why it is [the officers] were doing what they did, where they did. Apparently this squad is a squad assigned to gangland patrol. They have nothing to do with drugs. Why are they there? Who authorized it?”

Although he criticized the city’s police management, Mithoff praised the mayor for calling on U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to review whether federal law was violated in the Oregon affair. The U.S. Justice Department review is still underway.

Brian Benken, a lawyer for the officers, said that he had not had a chance to discuss the firings with his clients. “Obviously, all avenues of appeal will be discussed” at meetings later this week, he said.

Researcher Lianne Hart contributed to this story.