Waterspout comes ashore in Galveston

By Chris Paschenko & Rhiannon Meyers / The Daily News & Kevin Reece / 11 News
GALVESTON, Texas — The National Weather Service confirmed a waterspout came ashore in Galveston on Sunday damaging buildings, knocking out power and injuring at least three people.

It happened soon after a strong line of storms moved into the county, and the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning. A waterspout is a tornado that forms over water.

Dolphin World, a souvenir shop in the 2900 block of Seawall Boulevard, was damaged about 9:45 p.m. Debris covered the streets.

Ironically, Dolphin World survived Hurricane Ike with very little damage. But after this storm, things were different.

“It’s very, very bad. Very difficult. Basically everything inside is gone. Brings back memory of Ike,” Schlomo Hamo of Dolphin World said.

Witnesses told The Daily News that a piece of the roof from Dolphin World struck a man who was pushing his bicycle down the seawall. They said he was taken away by ambulance.

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CNN) -- Three boaters who were stranded at sea for more than a week were being reunited with their families Sunday.

Three missing boaters were returned safely to Port Aransas, Texas, after their rescue on Saturday.

A day after the U.S. Coast Guard said it was suspending its weeklong search for the boaters, the men were found alive Saturday night.

The crew of a Good Samaritan vessel found Curtis Hall, 28, James Phillips, 30, and Tressel Hawkins, 43, sitting on top of their capsized 23-foot fishing vessel about 180 miles from Port Aransas, Texas, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

The men had been missing at sea since they failed to return from a fishing trip on August 22.

The Coast Guard had called off their search Friday after it said it had looked over more than 86,000 square miles.

Hall went to a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, but left after he waited too long in the emergency room, his mother told CNN. He returned to his home in Palacio, Texas, to rest and will see a doctor later on Sunday for what he thinks are second-degree burns on his legs from sun exposure, she said.

After the rescue, Phillips was on his way home to reunite with his family, his wife, Shane, told CNN. He did not seek medical attention, she said.

Hawkins suffered open sores on his legs after floating in the water for eight days, he told CNN from the emergency room of a Corpus Christi hospital. He plans to leave the hospital soon and head to Fort Worth, Texas, to reunite with his family, he said. E-mail to a friend | Mixx it | Share

Police: 5 suspects sought in Texas doctor's slaying

NN) -- Police are looking for five suspects in connection with the shooting death over the weekend of a Houston, Texas, doctor, authorities said Monday.

Dr. Jorge Mario Gonzales was found shot to death at his ranch in rural Texas on Saturday, police say.

Dr. Jorge Mario Gonzalez, 56, was chief of the critical care section at Houston's Methodist Hospital and "a pulmonary medicine leader," according to the hospital system's Web site.

He was found dead Saturday, when police responded to a 911 call of a burglary in progress shortly after noon, Austin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Paul Faircloth told CNN.

The responding officer found three vehicles leaving the location, Faircloth said, and a person in one vehicle fired on the officer. Neither the officer nor his patrol car was struck, and the officer did not return fire, Faircloth said. The officer was able to provide a detailed description of all three vehicles, he said.

At the home, which Faircloth said is in a rural, wooded and isolated area, officers found Gonzalez shot to death and another person wounded. The second victim was airlifted to an Austin, Texas, hospital.

Gonzalez' wife and a small child were found unharmed inside the home, Faircloth said. KHOU identified them as Charleen Gonzalez, 29, and the couple's 2-year-old son, and reported the two hid in a closet.

Authorities do not know whether the incident was a burglary or an intended home invasion, Faircloth told CNN, and "we do not know if this is random or targeted." Several leads were being followed Monday morning, he said, and numerous agencies were involved in the investigation.

The slaying took place at Gonzalez' ranch outside Bellville, Texas, said Lisa Block, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Bellville is about 50 miles west of Houston.

Gonzalez, his wife and child arrived at the ranch about 11 a.m. Saturday, Block said, and "the suspects were at the house when they arrived." Gonzalez' wife ran inside with the child and called 911, she said.

Ranch worker Noel Galvan was the second victim, Block said. He was taken to an Austin, Texas, hospital, where he was last listed in critical condition, she said.

Faircloth said five suspects are being sought. Block said police are investigating how many suspects were involved, but believe there were at least four.


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Katy Cop abducted in Brookshire, Texas

Authorities have surrounded a home in a small town outside of Houston as they search for a 38-year-old man suspected of abducting his ex-girlfriend.

BROOKSHIRE, TEXAS (AP) -- Both Julio Reyes and 24-year-old Rachel Hillsman are police officers with the Katy school district, just west of Houston.

Officials say it's not yet known if Reyes was with Hillsman in the house in Brookshire, about eight miles east of Katy.

Investigators say Reyes abducted Hillsman in front of her two young children Tuesday morning in Brookshire, about 37 miles west of Houston.

Shortly after Hillsman's abduction, officials launched a statewide manhunt and established roadblocks in the Brookshire area.

(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Houston Hair glue bandit victim videos prankster with cell phone

HOUSTON -- Another woman has come forward saying she too, was a victim of the so-called hair glue bandit. The woman says it happened in a Marshalls in Southwest Houston. She was looking at cookbooks when she felt something in her hair.

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"There was this man standing about a foot and a half beside me. He said, ‘Excuse me,’ and I said, ‘It's ok.’ But then I felt something warm on the back of my head," said the hair glue bandit’s latest victim, who wishes to remain anonymous. "There was this white substance on my hand. It dried instantly."

The victim says she was able to pull out her cell phone and capture video of the man who poured the glue on her.

Plus, because she didn't want him to disappear into a busy parking lot, she followed him out and took down the license plate of the car he was in. She then passed the information over to the police.

Over the past few weeks, glue victims have been studying a surveillance video taken from another attack. The latest victim claims the same man poured the glue in her hair.

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