Charges dropped against suspect in Lone Star College shooting Sheriff defends his office's handling of case

Quanell X - with Trey Foster's mother, Don - shows a receipt his client got when he bought a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Quanell X - with Trey Foster's mother, Don - shows a receipt his client got when he bought a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Photo: Cody Duty, Staff Photo: Cody Duty, Staff Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Charges dropped against suspect in Lone Star College shooting 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

It took about six hours for police to arrest Carlton Berry for opening fire at Lone Star College last week, accused of shooting two people and wounding himself in the leg.

It would take six days for the 22-year-old to be cleared of the charges and freed from jail Monday.

"I'm just going to take it one step at a time," Berry said as he hobbled out of the Harris County jail on crutches. "I'm just (at) a loss for words. I really don't feel like talking."

He did not answer questions about Harris County prosecutors dropping two counts of aggravated assault against him earlier in the day.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia defended Berry's arrest at a news conference Monday.

"Two people who were shot at Lone Star Community College said right after the shooting that the shooter was Carlton Berry," Garcia said. "It was those statements and those witnesses that met our 'probable cause' and the charges were accepted by the district attorney's office."

He said Berry first told investigators that he knew nothing about the shooting, but after the charges were filed he admitted he was there and fingered a second suspect, Trey Foster, who has been charged as the shooter.

If they had not charged Berry, Garcia said, Foster might not have been arrested and the gun, believed to have been used in the shooting, might not have been recovered.

Foster was charged two days after the shooting that allegedly stemmed from an altercation between Foster and another student at the college. Foster was arrested Friday in Plano. He was arraigned Monday morning, and his bail was set at $100,000.

Were mistakes made?

After the arraignment, prosecutors said the investigation continues.

"The charges have been dismissed against Carlton Berry pending further investigation at this time," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Alison Baimbridge. "Those investigators need time and everyone needs to give them time."

Asked if mistakes were made that led to Berry being charged with the shooting, Baimbridge said that as more evidence is collected, the clearer the picture becomes.

"I can tell you that everyone is working as hard as they can to gather information every day, as information comes to us we try to make the right decision, in the interest of justice," Baimbridge said. "The right decision today, in the interest of justice, is to dismiss those cases."

Ten shots were fired just after noon on Jan. 22. Berry, another student and a maintenance man at the college were wounded.

Berry shot from behind

Robert Jones, Berry's attorney, said his client had nothing to do with the shooting and took authorities to task for charging his client while he was in the hospital recovering from being shot in the leg from behind.

"There is no 'heat' when a person is in the hospital, there's no pursuit," Jones said. "If you start the right way, you'll end the right way, and hopefully it will be sooner and not later."

He noted that Berry was shot in the posterior then told authorities he was not the gunman.

"If a person is shot in their behind, then their head was facing in the opposite direction," Jones said. "He said continually, whenever they talked to him, that he didn't do anything, but that wasn't enough."

Quanell X, who spoke for Berry's family, lambasted the sheriff's office and prosecutors for their handling of the case.

"It's a disgrace how this case was handled," the community activist said. "It's a disgrace how the sheriff's department and the district attorney's office allowed misinformation to have a young man, who was a shooting victim, incarcerated - put in jail and taken away from his family and have his name slandered across the news."

Pistol bought legally

After Foster was arraigned by state District Judge Marc Carter, Quanell X showed reporters a receipt indicating that Foster legally purchased a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol from Gander Mountain, a national sporting goods store.

The activist, standing next to Foster's mother, who did not comment, said the accused gunman completed a concealed handgun license course and bought the gun after being shot in the face two years ago.

Foster sent the application for a CHL to state officials, where it was apparently stalled because of past arrests, Quanell X said.

It was unclear Monday whether Foster's misdemeanor arrests for possession of brass knuckles and resisting arrest would have kept him from buying the gun or obtaining a concealed handgun license. In general, suspects convicted of misdemeanors can own firearms, but they cannot get a CHL, Baimbridge said.