Houston Deputy cleared in Fatal Shooting of Latino Man

Grand jury declines to indict officer, who faces a federal suit from victim's family
A Harris County grand jury voted Wednesday not to indict a sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a man suspected of stealing construction materials. Zachary Long, 36, was working a second job as a security guard at a construction site on Feb. 1 when he killed 31-year-old Rodolfo Gonzalez Garcia. The death is the subject of a federal lawsuit in which Garcia's family alleges that the deputy acted improperly. Long said he tried to arrest Garcia on suspicion that he was stealing roofing shingles at the Atascocita Meadows housing development in Humble.  Randall Kallinen, the Garcia family's attorney, said the self-defense claim does not make sense because Garcia was shot in the side. He said there also was no evidence of a bullet hole in the windshield to indicate the van was moving toward Long. Garcia was one of at least 22 people wounded or killed in vehicles by Harris County sheriff's deputies in the past five years. The Harris County medical examiner's office has refused to release Garcia's autopsy report, citing the pending investigation. Autopsy reports usually are made public. A death certificate shows that Garcia died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, but it does not specify whether the entry wounds were in the front, side or back.

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