OFFICER SAYS HE NEVER SAW VICTIM WITH GUN

HOUSTON -- A police officer involved in a fatal shooting during a
botched drug raid says he heard gunfire from the bedroom of victim
Pedro Oregon Navarro but never saw a gun in the man's hand. The sworn
statement from David Russell Perkins, who has since left the Police
Department, is the first public account of the July 12 shooting from any
of the six officers involved.

It was given to attorneys for Mr. Oregon's relatives, who have filed a
civil rights lawsuit against the officers and the city. City attorneys
have acknowledged that Mr. Oregon never fired at the officers after
they stormed his apartment without a warrant looking for drugs.

However, the city has contended the officers' actions "were
reasonable" because Mr. Oregon approached them with a gun.