Police increased patrols in the Houston neighborhood in 2024, but recent local data showed aggravated assaults persisting nearby.
HOUSTON, Texas — An attempted carjacking that left a woman wounded in Houston’s Third Ward is putting renewed attention on public safety in an area where police increased patrols two years ago following a series of violent crimes.
Houston police said the latest attack happened about 2:30 a.m. Friday near Eagle and Live Oak streets. A woman in her mid-20s was visiting her boyfriend when an armed man approached and tried to take her vehicle, according to police accounts reported by local news organizations.
The woman struggled with the attacker and was struck with the gun before being shot in the shoulder, police said. She escaped to her boyfriend’s home, and the gunman fled on foot without taking the vehicle. Paramedics took the woman to a hospital, where she was reported in stable condition and expected to recover.
The shooting comes after Houston police announced stepped-up patrols in Third Ward in 2024 following a string of violent crimes. ABC13 reported that it reviewed historical crime data within a half-mile of the site of Friday’s attack to examine what happened after those patrol changes.
The station’s review found about 30 aggravated assaults during the period from Jan. 1 through mid-August in each of the two years before 2024. The data showed roughly similar levels during that same part of the year beginning in 2024 and afterward, according to the report.
Those figures cover a limited area and one category of reported crime, and they do not by themselves establish whether increased patrols caused broader crime to rise or fall. Houston police did not announce a new patrol initiative in connection with Friday’s attack in the reports reviewed.
Investigators instead remained focused on finding the man involved in the attempted carjacking. Officers searched the area after the attack but were unable to locate him. Police described the suspect as a Black man wearing dark clothing and a black-and-white hat.
Detectives were also reviewing camera footage from the area as part of the investigation. Authorities had not announced an arrest or publicly identified the suspect as of Sunday, and the available reports did not indicate whether police had developed additional leads.
The case remains with the Houston Police Department’s Major Assaults Division. The shooting adds another violent incident to an area where questions about neighborhood safety and the effect of expanded police patrols have persisted since the department’s 2024 response.
Author note: Last updated August 23, 2026.