Police chief in Texas shot while assisting on eviction: 'It's a very dangerous job'

One bullet hit Newton Police Chief Will Jackson in the back.
(SBG Photo)

FOX 29
by Angel San Juan
Sunday, January 15th 2023

CALL, Texas - Newton County Sheriff's Office has released the names of a Newton County man and woman accused of firing shots at officers who were serving an eviction notice on the couple. L.C. Gosey, Jr. and Betty Richards are in jail and awaiting formal charges.

The unincorporated community of Call is about 120 miles northeast of Houston.

Police say one bullet hit Newton Police Chief Will Jackson in the back. Fortunately, the chief was wearing a ballistic vest that protected him from serious injury.

He's at CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital and expects to be released Sunday. He thanks the public for all of the prayers and support.

A Newton police officer was spotted carrying the ballistic vest that likely saved his chief from serious harm or worse.

A couple living in the house on FM 1004 in the Call community are accused of firing shots at Chief Jackson and other law enforcement officers.

"Whenever we made it through the threshold of the door is when the lady opened fire on us, and another individual in the house opened fire through the wall and struck Chief Jackson in the back," said Newton County Precinct 1 Constable Colton Havard.

Havard says both the man and woman inside the house fired handguns. He says the shot that struck Chief Jackson came from the man's gun. The bullet pierced Jackson's ballistic vest but caused only a minor laceration to his skin.

KFDM/Fox 4 was at CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital when Chief Jackson arrived by ambulance for treatment and assessment.

"I think our society has gotten to the point we're so pissed off for various reasons, and sometimes I don't think they know why and take action out of emotion instead of action from intelligence," said Newton County Sheriff Robert Burby.

Constable Havard, along with another constable, a Newton police sergeant and Chief Jackson, had come to the home around 9:30 Saturday morning to evict the couple and remove their possessions from the house.

"Telling her I was a police officer, I was a constable, to execute a lawful duty signed by a judge," said Constable Havard. "She refused to exit the door. At this point in time, we actually made forced entry into the front door of the residence, and when we did that, we were met with gunfire. The lady shot one time at us with a handgun."

The group of officers retreated and set up a perimeter. That's when Havard says the man in the house fired two shots, one of them striking Chief Jackson.

"So a lot of people think the constable is just someone who goes around and serves civil papers, and although that is their job duty, they're not exempt from situations like that, cause people don't want to move out of their house. They don't want you to take their personal property. It's a very dangerous job."

Constable Havard says this eviction process has been ongoing for about three months, and he says this dangerous situation Saturday morning could have been avoided, but he says the couple refused to cooperate with authorities and to budge from the house.

"I've tried to talk to them in the past, these two people," said Constable Havard. "It's not their first run-in with law enforcement. I've made contact with them countless times, telling them what I had planned, what was going to happen, and they just absolutely refused to cooperate."

Following the shooting, they still would not come out. Newton County Sheriff Robert Burby says the woman knew him, and asked for him, and he says he convinced the couple to surrender.

"I just said very clearly to them, we got more guns than you got, and we're at a point right now that needs to stop. It needs to stop right now."

It's not likely the couple will return to the house they did not want to leave. Both were arrested and taken to jail.

The names of the man and woman will not be released until a judge formally arraigns them.

They both face a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant.

The Texas Rangers are in charge of the investigation.

Constable Havard wants to thank the Jasper, Orange, and Newton County Sheriff's Office for their help, along with the DPS, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Trout Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

We thank our media partner, Mike Lout and KJAS radio, for some of the pictures in this story.