Chicago police officer charged with murder in off-duty shooting
CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer has been charged with murder in the off-duty shooting of a 37-year-old man earlier this month, reports CBS Chicago.
Jose Nieves was shot and killed on Jan. 2 by transit officer Lowell Houser after a verbal confrontation, the station reports. Police have said Nieves and the officer had argued in the past, and that Nieves was not armed at the time of the shooting.
Houser was stripped of his police powers a day after the shooting, amid ongoing investigations by the Internal Affairs Division and the Independent Police Review Authority, reports CBS Chicago. He was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder.
Nieves’ family filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Houser after the shooting, alleging Houser “illegally detained and threatened to arrest and physically harm” Nieves on the morning of the shooting. The lawsuit also alleges the Chicago Police Department was warned about Houser’s interactions with Nieves on one or more occasion before the shooting, the station reports.
Nieves’ sister, Angelica Nieves, told the station the same officer who killed her brother had pulled a gun on him in the past. Police told the station they were called to Jose Nieves’ home Dec. 11 for an alleged assault he was committing, and Nieves said a Chicago police officer pointed a gun at him during the response. The department’s internal affairs unit was trying to determine if that officer was the same one who fatally shot Nieves, according to CBS Chicago.
Police couldn’t tell the station whether Nieves was charged with a crime after the alleged December assault.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Houser has been the focus of 20 disciplinary investigations since the 1990s.
