MILWAUKEE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) -Body Camera footage has convinced the family of Appleton gunman Ruben Houston that he acted in the wrong.
“I’m hurt because I don’t have my husband no more and it’s sad that a fireman don’t have his life anymore, a police shot, a lady shot, it’s sad,” said Tamatha Houston, Ruben Houston’s wife.
After seeing that video, the family of Houston says officers were justified in their actions in the tragic shooting outside Appleton’s transit center.
Investigators concluded Houston shot and killed Appleton firefighter Mitch Lundgaard and wounded Officer Paul Christensen.
Houston died at the hospital that night, after being shot as officers returned fire.
A bystander, Brittany Schowalter, was also shot, and is recovering after spending weeks in the hospital.
“For a while I was mad because I thought they maliciously killed my husband,” said Tamatha Houston. “I really did, but when I seen the body cam and I seen everything that happened, I was at peace with it. I was at peace with it. They did their job.”
The Houstons were together for 25 years. Tamatha says Ruben cared for her four daughters like they were his own. She says her husband was not a monster, but battled mental illness and was being treated for years of heroin use.
“He used drugs, I’m not ashamed to say it,” said Houston. “He used drugs, but that didn’t make him a bad person. He still was a beautiful person inside and out.”
Houston says she’s never seen the face her husband had on when paramedics were treating him for an apparent overdose, which can be seen in the body camera video. She says she also hasn’t seen her husband act the way he did moments later when police asked to check him for weapons.
“That wasn’t my husband,” said Houston. “I don’t know who that was out there that day. It wasn’t my husband.”
Ruben’s stepdaughter, Starquis Lewis, agrees. But one thing she says that isn’t surprising from the body camera video is Ruben pleading with officers to let him back on the bus to return to his wife. She was unexpectedly rushed to the hospital the day before.
“It really started to mess with him,” said Lewis. “If it was anything that wasn’t getting back to her, he wouldn’t have let it happen.”
The family says it had no idea Ruben even had a gun. It acknowledges his criminal past prevented him from legally owning one.
“It’s still unreal,” said Lewis.
Tamatha Houston and her daughter say they want everyone to know they apologize to all the people involved in the tragedy and are especially thankful for the emergency personnel who cared for and tried to reason with Ruben.
“They did everything they possibly can to help him at that moment and time. I’m thankful for that,” said Lewis.
