2 shot while trying to rob off-duty HPD officer, his girlfriend outside movie theater

Via Bearing Arms

Outside Edwards Cinemas in Greenway Plaza, the drama spilled over from the big screen and into the streets early Sunday.

“It’s a shame you can’t get out into the community at night without having to worry about somebody taking what you have,” said moviegoer Patrick Martin.

It happened just after midnight. Police say off-duty officer J. Johnson was taking his girlfriend to the movies. They were walking near the intersection of Weslayan and Portsmouth when Ruben Anthony Zelaya, 17, Macedonio Rivera, 18, and Luis Angel Aquino, 17, pulled up in a silver sedan. Police say Johnson, who was wearing plainclothes at the time, thought they were stopping to ask for directions.

“Instead the front passenger (Zelaya) produced a pistol, pointed it at the couple and demanded their belongings,” said HPD spokesman Kese Smith. “At that point Officer Johnson, fearing for his girlfriend’s safety as well as his own, drew his duty weapon firing more than once hitting the vehicle.”

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