POLICE IDENTIFY SUSPECT SHOT IN DRUG OPERATION

A 26-year-old man shot and wounded by an undercover Harris County Sheriff's
Department deputy during a drug operation in southeast Houston Wednesday has
been identified as Carlos Vicente Brand.

Brand, who was shot by a deputy identified only as J. Thomas when he
allegedly reached for a gun in his car, is expected to survive his wound.

The Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force was conducting a
drug buy-bust in the parking lot of a motel in the 8600 block of the Gulf
Freeway at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when the shooting occurred.

After money was exchanged among undercover task force officers and three
suspects, team members moved to make arrests, Houston homicide investigators
said.

Brand, who was in the front passenger seat of a Honda Accord, was shot
through the car's windshield by Thomas after appearing to reach for a pistol
that was later recovered from the car's floorboard, investigators said.

Two other suspects were arrested and face charges in the incident along with
Brand, who remained in fair condition Thursday at Ben Taub Hospital.

It is the third shooting this year involving the task force, a
multijurisdictional team comosed of officers from various agencies in the
county.

In August, task force officers shot and killed Alvaro Henry Viveros, 27,
when they said he tried to run over an officer trying to arrest him during a
buy-bust in the parking lot of a restaurant in the Homestead Road and the
North Loop.

In January, task force officers shot and wounded Jose Ricardo Cobos, 20, and
Isaias Gallegos, 19, after one pulled a gun on officers trying to arrest
them for selling cocaine at a carwash in the 5400 block of Pinemont.