08:53 AM CST on Thursday, March 30, 2006

By Dale Lezon / Houston Chronicle

A man accused of trying to kill a Houston police officer admitted to investigators that he had fired his gun, but only to scare the lawman. 

KHOU-TV

HPD Officer Raul Montelongo Jr. was shot in the face.

Wendell Roy Mitchell, 34, is charged with attempted capital murder in the wounding of Houston Police Department officer Raul Montelongo Jr. during a traffic stop in the 8400 block of Eastex Freeway last April 22.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday. The defense also rested Wednesday, after calling no witnesses. Closing arguments are scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.

Defense attorney Alvin Nunnery said he had no witnesses to call. If Mitchell is convicted, more testimony is possible in the next phase of the trial when the jury determines his sentence.

“I have investigated this case thoroughly and I’m confident that the prudent thing to do was to rest,” Nunnery said. In a videotaped interrogation played for jurors Wednesday, Mitchell told police investigators that he hadn’t intended to kill Montelongo.

“I thought I would fire off a round and scare him,” he said. 

Prosecutor Luci Davidson said outside the courtroom that Mitchell was wanted on two felony warrants, for being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon and evading arrest with a motor vehicle, when the shooting occurred.

“He didn’t want to go to jail,” she said.

Montelongo, 36, testified Wednesday that he had stopped Mitchell and two other men in a Toyota Corolla on the freeway service road near Laura Koppe after they exited the freeway just after 3 a.m.  The officer said Mitchell was at the wheel and handed him his driver’s license, but told him he couldn’t find his proof of insurance after searching his glove compartment, center console and floor board.  Mitchell then drew a gun and fired at him from about a foot away, Montelongo testified.

“He pulled it out and pointed it right between my eyes,” the officer said. “I turned my face and heard a shot. I felt pain.” Montelongo said he ran back to his squad car and radioed a dispatcher that he had been shot. He said he heard the car speed away after the shooting.

Bleeding from his wound, he gave the dispatcher a description of the car and the three men inside. He later gave arriving police Mitchell’s driver’s license, which he had placed in his belt for safekeeping just before the shooting.

Another officer spotted the car a short time later and chased it. The car veered out of control and crashed near the 8500 block of Liberty.

Mitchell and the other men jumped out and ran away, police said.  Investigators said Mitchell was found about 11:45 a.m., hiding in an abandoned house in the 4600 block of Settegast. The other men were not found.

Montelongo said the bullet exited behind his left ear, but doctors had to remove bullet fragments from his face and jaw. He testified that he still suffers occasional migraine headaches and pain in his face. He now is assigned to the police department’s DWI task force, which patrols for suspected drunken drivers.