Jalen Randle

Jalen Randle, 29, was shot in the neck and killed by Houston Police Officer Shane Privette on April 27, 2022, roughly two seconds after stepping out of a car at the end of a short chase in the Pleasantville neighborhood. Officers had been trying to serve Randle with a warrant on three felony charges. Body camera video showed Privette order Randle to show his hands and open fire before finishing the sentence, then curse after the shot; Randle dropped a bag that was later found to contain a gun. Harris County presented the case to a grand jury twice — the first took no action at all in April 2023, and a second panel declined to indict Privette in October 2023, 18 months after the shooting. Privette was later returned to active duty in the department's narcotics division. No one has ever been charged in Randle's death.

Houston, TX · Harris County

• 2022: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The attempted warrant service, the short vehicle pursuit, and the shooting, per Houston Police Department body camera footage released publicly and Harris County District Attorney's Office statements.
• Body camera video showed Privette telling Randle to show his hands and firing a single shot before finishing the command, striking Randle in the neck roughly two seconds after he exited the vehicle; Privette can be heard uttering a curse word immediately after firing.
• Randle dropped a bag as he was shot; a handgun was later found inside it, though family members and their attorney disputed that this justified the shooting given the video's timing.
• The driver of the vehicle, E.J. Robertson, was separately charged only with a misdemeanor for fleeing police; that charge was ultimately dismissed.
• A first Harris County grand jury considered the case in April 2023 and took no action either way, an unusual outcome that required the case be presented again to a new panel.
• A second grand jury declined to indict Privette on October 18, 2023, roughly 18 months after the shooting; the Harris County District Attorney's Office said it followed its standard policy of presenting all officer-involved shootings to a grand jury.
• Privette was placed on administrative leave following the shooting but was later reassigned to the department's narcotics division; Randle's family said they learned he had returned to duty only through media reports, not from the department.
• Civil rights attorney Ben Crump represented Randle's family, who pursued a separate civil lawsuit against the city and publicly called for Privette's firing and federal charges.

• Whether Randle's motion reaching back into the bag, in the roughly two seconds between exiting the vehicle and being shot, constituted a threat justifying deadly force, or whether the shooting preceded any clear display of the weapon, was disputed by the family based on the same body camera footage and was never resolved by any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.
• Why the first grand jury took no action at all, rather than either indicting or clearing Privette, has not been explained beyond the district attorney's office's procedural statement that the case would be presented again.
• The specific reasoning behind the second grand jury's decision not to indict has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Texas law.

• Houston Public Media — “Grand jury declines charges on Houston police officer involved in shooting, killing Black man”
• KHOU 11 — “Harris County grand jury declines charges against HPD officer who shot, killed man during arrest attempt”
• ABC13 Houston — “HPD Officer Shane Privette faces grand jury for 2nd time after being accused of fatally shooting Jalen Randle during chase in 2022”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs