Campus Alert Archive
SHSU

A 2:49 AM Clery Timely Warning Reaches Bearkats Two Hours After a Deadly House Party Shooting Near Avenue O

TXshootingtimely warningmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

Just after 12:30 AM CST on Saturday, February 4, 2023, Huntsville Police responded to a house party shooting near 19th Street and Avenue O, one block from the Sam Houston State University campus. Four people had been shot; two — 18-year-old James Jones of Huntsville and 18-year-old Cruz Garcia of Livingston — would ultimately die from their injuries. SHSU's KatSafe emergency notification system sent a Clery-compliant timely warning at 2:49 AM CST, more than two hours after the initial gunfire, advising students and staff to avoid the area surrounding Avenue O and 19th Street.

Alerts
1
Response
—
Killed
2
Injured
2
Institution
Sam Houston State University
Public R2 · TX
~21,000 studentsKatSafe
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction265 chars
KatSafe Alert: Multiple shots reported off-campus in the 1500 block of Avenue O, Huntsville. Avoid the area surrounding Avenue O and 19th Street. This notice is sent in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Statistics Act.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed; the article reports the 2:49 AM timestamp and the Clery Act compliance framing, and that the alert advised people to avoid Avenue O and 19th Street
The 2-hour-19-minute delay between the 12:30 AM shooting and the 2:49 AM alert reflects the time required for Huntsville Police to confirm scene details, secure witnesses, and for SHSU to make a Clery Act timely-warning determination for an off-campus incident
Classification as 'timely warning' (rather than 'emergency notification') is technically correct: by 2:49 AM the immediate scene had been contained by Huntsville PD, so the Clery 'continuing threat' standard rather than the 'immediate threat' standard applied
Context

Background

Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas is an R2 public university with about 21,000 students, and one of the Conference USA's flagship Texas institutions. The area around campus — particularly along 19th Street and Avenue O — hosts off-campus student housing that has occasionally been the site of late-night parties. Just after 12:30 AM CST on Saturday, February 4, 2023, an unregistered house party at a residence near 19th Street and Avenue O — one block from the SHSU campus — erupted in gunfire. Huntsville Police, SHSU Police, and Texas DPS troopers responded and found four people shot. Two 18-year-old men died: James Jones of Huntsville at the scene area, and Cruz Garcia of Livingston later at a Houston hospital. Two other victims, also from Livingston, were in critical condition. SHSU's KatSafe emergency notification system sent a Clery-compliant timely warning at 2:49 AM CST — a 2-hour-19-minute delay from the initial gunfire that reflected the time required to confirm scene details and make a Clery determination. Joe Allen Lewis, 22, and Lynn Johnson, 19, of Livingston were arrested Saturday afternoon. The case illustrates the Clery 'timely warning' workflow for off-campus violence near university housing — where the institution's notification obligation is keyed to a 'continuing threat to the campus community' rather than the imminent-danger standard for on-campus emergencies. The 2:49 AM timestamp is also a reminder that timely warnings often arrive long after the incident itself, by design rather than by error.
Analysis

Key Findings

The KatSafe alert was issued at 2:49 AM CST, 2 hours and 19 minutes after the initial 12:30 AM CST shooting — a delay consistent with the Clery 'timely warning' framework for off-campus continuing-threat assessments rather than the 'emergency notification' framework for immediate on-campus danger
The alert explicitly cited the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Statistics Act, an unusual transparency choice that names the legal authority for the notification
Two 18-year-olds died and two other Livingston residents were critically injured; no SHSU students were among the casualties, though students were at the party
Two suspects from Livingston, Texas were arrested the same afternoon, bringing the timely-warning continuing-threat justification to a relatively quick resolution
Outcome
Two 18-year-old men died from their injuries: James Jones of Huntsville (pronounced dead at the scene area) and Cruz Garcia of Livingston (died at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston). Two other victims, also from Livingston, were transported in critical condition. Joe Allen Lewis, 22, and Lynn Johnson, 19, both of Livingston, were arrested Saturday afternoon. No SHSU students were among the casualties, but multiple students were at the off-campus party. The investigation was led by Huntsville Police with SHSU Police and Texas DPS assisting.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    1 dead, 3 shot near Sam Houston State University (KHOU)
    khou.com
  2. News
    UPDATED: Two dead following house party gone wrong (Huntsville Item)
    itemonline.com
  3. News
    2 dead, 2 injured after off-campus party near Sam Houston State University on Avenue O and 19th Street (ABC13 Houston)
    abc13.com
  4. News
    2 teens dead, 2 arrested after shooting at house party near Sam Houston State University (Click2Houston KPRC)
    click2houston.com
  5. Official
    KatSafe (official)
    shsu.edu
Tags
shootingoff-campushouse-partytexaspublic-universitytimely-warningClery-Actconference-usaalert-delayregional-public
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion