Pamela Turner

Pamela Turner, 44, a Black woman whose family said she lived with mental illness, was shot five times and killed by Baytown, Texas Police Officer Juan Delacruz on May 13, 2019, in the parking lot of the apartment complex where both lived. Delacruz was attempting to arrest Turner on outstanding warrants; police said she resisted, grabbed his Taser, and used it against him before he opened fire. A bystander's video captured part of the encounter, including Turner shouting that she was pregnant moments before the shots. A Harris County grand jury indicted Delacruz on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault by a public servant in September 2020, and after a trial in October 2022, a jury found him not guilty. No one has ever been convicted in Turner's death.

Baytown, TX · Harris County

• 2019: 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 arrest, the Taser struggle, and the shooting, per Texas Rangers and Harris County District Attorney's Office investigations and trial coverage by KHOU, Click2Houston, and Houston Public Media.
• Delacruz encountered Turner while on patrol and knew she had outstanding warrants; police said she resisted arrest, grabbed his Taser, and used it against him, at which point he fired.
• A bystander's cellphone video shows Delacruz standing over Turner and reaching down for her arms; Turner is heard yelling “I'm pregnant,” and moments later something flashes as she reaches her arm toward the officer, who pulls away and fires five shots.
• Turner's family said she suffered from mental illness; she and Delacruz lived in the same apartment complex.
• Delacruz returned to work within two weeks of the shooting, on administrative duty while the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney's Civil Rights Division investigated.
• A Harris County grand jury indicted Delacruz on September 14, 2020, on one count of aggravated assault by a public servant, a first-degree felony carrying five years to life in prison, roughly sixteen months after the shooting.
• At the start of the trial, the family's attorney, Ben Crump, said a guilty verdict would be the first time in American history a police officer was convicted in the killing of a Black woman.
• A Harris County jury found Delacruz not guilty on October 11, 2022; District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office respected the verdict, while Turner's family and Crump expressed grief and disappointment.

• Whether Turner in fact grabbed and fired the Taser at Delacruz in a way that put his life at risk, as the defense maintained, or the flash visible on the bystander video reflected something less threatening, was contested at trial and resolved only by the not-guilty verdict, not by any conviction.
• How much the jury weighed Turner's documented mental illness, and Delacruz's knowledge of it as her neighbor, in reaching its verdict has not been made public, as jury deliberations are not a matter of public record.
• Whether any administrative or departmental discipline followed the acquittal has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary.

• Click2Houston (KPRC) — “Harris County jury finds Baytown officer not guilty in 2019 fatal shooting of Pamela Turner”
• Houston Public Media — “Baytown Police Officer Indicted In 2019 Shooting Death Of Pamela Turner”
• Al Jazeera — “Pamela Turner: Texas charges officer for fatal 2019 US shooting”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs