Chicago cop guilty of second-degree murder in off-duty shooting
12/21/2019 10:28 am PST
via WGN:
CHICAGO (WGN) -- A Chicago police officer was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder for shooting a man while off-duty.
Officer Lowell Houser was accused of killing 38-year-old Jose Nieves in January 2017.
Investigators said Houser was off-duty when he got into a heated argument with Nieves, who was one of his neighbors. Houser said he shot and killed Nieves in self-defense.
Houser claims it was Nieves who erupted and threatened him, and pretended to have a gun in his waistband. The two were said to have had an ongoing feud.
On Friday, a judge rejected Houser's contention that he acted in self-defense, but he also did not feel that Houser was guilty of premeditated first-degree murder.
Houser is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 24.
MORE: Chicago cop found guilty of second-degree murder in 2017 off-duty fatal shooting - WGN
