HOUSTON — A Houston man was sentenced to life in prison for killing three people during a 45-minute-long crime spree in 2020.
Joshua Kelsey, 37, was convicted Thursday when a Harris County jury found him guilty of three murder charges.
Editor's note: The videos attached to this article include raw footage from the crime scenes at the time of the shootings.
What happened
On May 6, 2020, around 8:15 p.m., Louis Hodges and another man who knew Kelsey well picked him up to go buy drugs. The three of them drove to a house in southwest Houston and gave Kelsey $40 to buy heroin. Kelsey went inside the house and came out about 20 minutes later. He didn't have the drugs or the money and a witness said he looked high.
Hodges and the other man drove Kelsey about half a block and stopped in a parking lot in the 14200 block of Bridgeport. When they stopped, Kelsey pulled out a pink pistol and threatened the men, who got out of the car and tried to run away.
That's when Kelsey opened fire. He fired at least eight shots and hit Hodges, who fell to the ground. He turned his attention to the other man and shot him three times as he ran away. Kelsey then stood over Hodges and shot him in the chest. A witness testified that Kelsey was angry at Hodges for an incident the day before in which Hodges was careless with a small bag of heroin.
The other man ran to a nearby house and called the police.
Kelsey took the car and drove to his friend Michael Miller's house in the 5200 block of Kelling Street. In 2016, Miller let Kelsey store his RV at the house, but after six months of not being able to get ahold of Kelsey, Miller had it hauled away.
Minutes after the first shooting, Kelsey knocked on Miller's door, and when he answered, shot him to death. Miller's longtime partner told investigators that Kelsey blamed Miller for getting rid of the RV, which led to Kelsey becoming homeless.
After shooting Miller, Kelsey went to another acquaintance's house in the 13500 block of Hopper Road. Kelsey knocked on the door and when Juan Garcia answered the door, Kelsey said, “I’ve got something for you” and shot him to death, according to two witnesses who were at the house. It's unclear why Kelsey held a grudge against Garcia.
Kelsey then left in the stolen car.
About seven hours later, he was spotted and led police on a 20-mile chase that ended in Sugar Land. That's where he was taken into custody.
What they said
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg: “It is heartbreaking that a madman with a gun and a stolen car can kill three people and absolutely devastate their families in a matter of minutes. Life in prison is absolutely the right result.”
Assistant District Attorney Sean Teare: “This is a guy who has never accepted any responsibility for his actions, and he made a plan to kill people who he held grudges against. He had deep-seated anger and hatred for these people. He has to be locked away for as long as possible because who knows who else he may have grudges against.”