Sheriff, District Attorney, and Township Chairman discuss recent shooting in The Woodlands

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Recently, newly elected Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle formed a press conference near the site of the recent triple-shooting that occurred at The Goose’s Acre Irish Pub in The Woodlands Waterway.

Doolittle stood alongside Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon and The Woodlands Township Chairman of the Board of Directors Brad Bailey, where the three made statements, gave updated, and fielded questions from members of the media concerning the shooting, as well as the success of the ‘Take Back Our Streets’ task force that had enjoyed a successful weekend with hundreds of stops, dozens of arrests, and more than 40 vehicles seized or impounded.

“We’re here today to talk about public safety in The Woodlands and to let our community know that we’re working daily hand in hand to keep this community safe. We understand there are concerns about a shooting that took place this weekend in The Woodlands, and we want folks to know that that was a random act. There wasn’t a planned attack, and that person has been arrested and will be held accountable for their actions,” Doolittle said at the outset of the press conference after introducing the others standing with him.

DA Ligon then addressed the media. “I was talking to Brad Sunday morning, and he’d been in contact with the sheriff late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, and we started talking about just how safe not only all of Montgomery County is, but this area in particular. [The shooting] is what some people would describe as almost like an asteroid event – rarely happens, right? And not only that, it’s not even a statistical anomaly. When I was trying to find out if there was something similar to this we’ve had in Montgomery County, we had to go back several years ago at a shooting that was at the Whistle Stop, and that was a completely different. So, it’s so rare that we have this type of violence that involves multiple victims in it, oftentimes. Unfortunately, what we have in Montgomery County are one-on-one shootings, and the vast majority of those are domestic violence. We don’t have people in businesses shooting places up.”

Bailey, who assumed the chair of the Township board at the same time Doolittle took his own oath, was obviously proud of the quick response and professionalism of local law enforcement and the DA’s office.

“It’s incredible that our sheriff and our DA are fearless when it comes to protecting our public. We have a great, great partnership with them, and with the Constable’s office as well, and that’s very important to your Woodlands Township and our Township board directors,” he said. “Our number one priority is public safety, and we’ve proven it by investing more – we have 107 officers patrolling The Woodlands for Montgomery County. That’s our supplemental contract. We’ve invested in drones and license plate readers to give law enforcement every opportunity they have to make sure they keep our public safe. And maybe we need to do some more things, and the board will be looking at that to keep things more safe. But we have a great commitment between all of us to work hand in hand. As I said, this is a safe place. The incident was like Brett said, an anomaly that happened. We’re going to make sure that we protect our residents and our businesses and work hand in hand with our businesses, our restaurants, our commercial property owners.”

Ligon concurred with Bailey’s observation of the close partnership between the Township and local law enforcement, and stressed the importance of communication between agencies and residents and business owners.

“I think because the act itself was so extraordinary, one of the things that got the sheriff and Brad and I talking and Brad talking was to assure the community with, ‘Hey, it’s a one off. We’ve got the resources to handle this,’” he said. “It’s notable because of how unique and odd it was. The community you can see is already here in force. I don’t think that Goose’s Acre has any concerns in regard to a loss of business. It’s the type of place where I’ve brought my family. The Woodlands community is a great place – you can see from the men and women in law enforcement, we’ve got Precinct 3 Constable’s Department with jurisdiction here, the Sheriff’s Department, you’ve got overlapping jurisdiction with Precinct 4 out of Harris County, that comes up in a few places, the Fire Department, and the EMS. The brochure writes itself for how safe our community is. We don’t have those types of shootings, so at the DA’s office tomorrow, it’s just going to be a Tuesday for us as far as how we’re going to dispose of the case.”

According to Sheriff Doolittle, approximately 54 officers responded within three-and-a-half minutes from the incident occurring. This ‘overwhelming response’ from law enforcement helped how responders were able to treat those that were injured, protect the scene, do an adequate and thorough investigation, put the suspect in custody, and bring all that evidence to the District Attorney’s Office so they can prosecute it effectively.

Though he confirmed that three people were injured from gunfire, Doolittle opted to not go into further detail. “I’m not going to talk about their injuries or anything like that. I do believe they’re all in stable condition. Because the investigation is ongoing, we’ll release information as it becomes available. We’ll be talking with what we believe can be released safely, that doesn’t compromise our investigations. That’ll be done through our Public Information Office.”

Woodlands Online inquired about reports that the suspect, who has been named as Calvin Rudi Sanders of Houston, was himself taken to the hospital with injuries apparently sustained from being detained by bar patrons until police arrived. DA Ligon was emphatic that his office had no intention of pursuing investigation or charges against the detainers.

“What you don’t want to do is dissuade people from getting involved. And so I want the Montgomery County public to know, when you’re stopping somebody, the amount of force that you can use is what this state law grants. If you’re in fear for your life and there’s an imminent apprehension of serious bodily injury or death, you can use deadly force, to prevent that force being used against you. I know that the incident unfolded within a matter of moments, and I know that there were several people, several brave people, within the crowd that responded to get the suspect in custody. The fact that the amount of force that they used was immediate and overwhelming and effective sounds like a good job to me, Montgomery County,” he said.

Sheriff Doolittle agreed. “Right. I don’t think we want to create a culture that enables the ‘bystander effect,’ which is a phenomenon where people just observe and don’t act. We live in a proactive community with a lot of good people in it that will step up and help protect you if necessary. I think it’s an admirable thing for them to have done that. It could have potentially saved other lives.”

After fielding questions about the incident from the media, Doolittle talked about the previous weekend’s successful implementation of a multi-agency task force designed to protect local parking lots, streets, roads, and highways from some of the attendees of a traveling car show.

“We did an initiative in response to the public’s request. For the last several years, we’ve had the Lone Star Throw Down over at the fairgrounds. After the show, the after-parties kick off, and we get these trucks and these folks out here that are tearing up parking lots, conducting criminal mischief by running over landscaping and sprinkler systems, and terrorizing our community. And we’re not going to stand for that. I had the opportunity this year to put together a task force with approximately 23 agencies and our District Attorney’s Office.”

Officers in the task force conducted approximately 600 traffic stops, and overwhelmingly issued approximately 350 citations and more than 100 warnings, with 59 arrests. When asked about the ratio between stops and arrests, Doolittle explained, “We’re looking for voluntary compliance. We’re not looking to ruin their livelihoods. We want folks to come to Montgomery County, enjoy what we have to offer, but also be respectful. And we did our best to inform folks, to educate them about the after-parties and things like that. But ultimately to work with our District Attorney’s Office, to work with our law enforcement partners to enforce the law and get zero tolerance for that kind of behavior here. We won’t tolerate it. We want that behavior to go somewhere else. Want to enjoy our community? Collectively, we want to keep you safe.”

Of the 59 arrests, most were for charges of driving while intoxicated, some for reckless behavior, and some for possession of narcotics.

Bailey pointed out that, ever since the new sheriff was sworn in, there was a visible change in law enforcement presence in The Woodlands.

“Since Sheriff Doolittle’s taking over, I have seen a drastic change in the amount of police officers that are on our streets. His team has really come in and driven it home and we’re all seeing a lot more boots on the ground, and that’s a great thing for our community, and we can’t thank him enough. And if somebody is going to come here and commit a crime, you have ‘Bulldog’ Ligon here. We got a great team and – like I said – public safety is number one here in the Township and the Township board, as well as the rest of our community.”

As the press conference wrapped up, Doolittle made some final remarks. “Ultimately, all law enforcement wants is voluntary compliance with the law – educating people, informing them about what can or will happen, and ultimately enforcing the laws. And we do that without hesitation. We do that because we have a great District Attorney. We have great juries, have great judges, and the people in our community support law enforcement. And we certainly appreciate it. You have the support of the Township, you have the support of our District Attorney, you have our good constables here and you have other folks out in this community that demonstrated their willingness to step up and protect you. And know that if something happens to you, we’ll do the very best we can to hold them accountable.”