Houston Police Department

Ana Lilia Trujillo, 44, is accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend repeatedly in the head with a stiletto heel at a luxury high-rise condo in Houston on Sunday, according to police. She has been charged with murder, they said.

A Texas woman faces a charge of murder after allegedly fatally stabbing a man with a stiletto heel at a luxury condominium early Sunday, Houston police said.

Ana Lilia Trujillo, 44, is accused of gouging a 59-year-old man with a stiletto multiple times, leaving puncture wounds all over his head, according to a Houston Police Department news release issued Monday.

Trujillo has been charged with murder in the 338th State District Court, the release said.

Police responded to a report of an assault at The Parklane high-rise condominium complex in Houston’s Theater District shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday. Trujillo opened the door to the unit for police, who discovered the man’s body on the floor, according to a statement from HPD patrol officers.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

The slain man has not been identified by officials, but police described him as Trujillo’s “boyfriend” in the news release. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the stabbing shortly after responders showed up, the patrol officers said.

David J. Phillip / AP

Houston Fire Department Chief Terry Garrison, right, presents a flag to the parents of fallen firefighter Anne Sullivan, Mary, left, and Jack Sullivan, during a memorial service for fallen Houston firefighters Wednesday in Houston.

Thousands of first-responders gathered in Houston on Wednesday for an emotional tribute to four firefighters killed in a deadly blaze last week.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Houston Mayor Annise Parker and 15,000 mourners assembled in Reliant Stadium to praise the heroism of victims Robert Bebee, Matthew Renaud, Anne Sullivan and Robert Garner, who died Friday -- the deadliest day in the Houston First Department's 118-year history. Thirteen other firefighters were injured.

Victims' families entered the memorial as firefighters stood and saluted them. Pictures of the fallen men and women were displayed on screens throughout the stadium, which is the home to the NFL's Houston Texans.

"When the Mayday sounded last Friday here in Houston, I truly believe our members left this earthly place and immediately stood at attention on the row call in Heaven," said Houston Fire Chief Terry Garrison.

After his remarks, Garrison knelt in front of each of the families and presented them with a flag.

Along with the thousands of first-responders in attendance, thousands more around Texas and the country watched the service remotely. Firefighters from the Dallas Fire Department and across the state helped back-fill in Houston as colleagues of the four attended the service, The Houston Chronicle reported.

"These are hard days. It is a painful day. But it's also a necessary day. It is our duty to honor these four individuals represented here. Four people who sacrificed everything in the service of their community," said Perry.

Following the Texas governor, representatives from each of the families delivered moving tributes to their loved ones.

Nicole Garner, sister to Robert Garner, said just weeks before he died that her brother told her that being a firefighter was what he needed to do with his life. "My brother died fulfilling his dream," she said.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fatal blaze at a motel in Houston. When first-responders attempted to rescue motel guests, the building collapsed on them and they became trapped, fire department officials said.

"It is always too soon to say gooodbye to another fallen hero. It breaks our hearts to say goodbye to four," said Parker. "The oath that they and all firefighters swear isn't to come when it's convenient, isn't to come when it's safe; it is to come and serve."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle via AP

A firefighter is wheeled to an ambulance after fighting a fire at the Southwest Inn on Friday, in Houston.

State and federal authorities are investigating the cause of a massive five-alarm blaze at a Houston motel Friday afternoon that killed four firefighters and injured 14 more, marking the single deadliest day in the history of the Houston Fire Department, according to officials.

The fire is believed to have sparked at a restaurant adjacent to the Southwest Inn just after 12:07 p.m. Friday afternoon before swelling into a monstrous inferno, engulfing part of the motel in flames and thick plumes of smoke, according to Houston Fire Department spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano.

First-responders arrived at the scene at 12:11 p.m. to rescue motel guests. But at some point during the blaze’s ferocious tear through the motel, one of the building’s structural components collapsed and the firefighters became trapped beneath the wreckage, according to Houston Fire Chief Terry Garrison.

“They were risking their lives to save our community,” Garrison said at a Friday press conference.

Although authorities have yet to determine the cause of the lethal blaze, Lozano said that the cause of the death for the four late first-responders was the structural collapse.

The victims have been identified as Capt. EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, of Station 51; engineer-operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, of Station 51; firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, of Station 68; and firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, of Station 68, who graduated from the Houston Fire Department Academy in April, the department said in a news release.

“This was the worst day in the history of the Houston Fire Department with the most lives lost,” said Mayor Annise Parker at a Friday press conference.

A 1929 incident in which three firefighters died after their Engine was broadsided by a train previously marked the deadliest day in the department’s 118-year history, according to a department press release.

One of the 14 injured firefighters was in critical condition Saturday, with three others in stable condition and a fourth awaiting surgery. All others have been released from a local hospital, Lozano said.

The Bhojan Restaurant, an Indian café neighboring the motel, reportedly has a history of citations by city inspectors, including one in March for allegedly failing to clean grease traps on restaurant grounds, according to The Houston Chronicle. However, authorities have not determined if Friday’s deadly inferno was initially triggered by a grease fire.

The first five months of 2013 have been particularly lethal for Texas firefighters, with 13 on-duty fatalities reported, including at least five deaths stemming from the horrific fertilizer plant explosion in the city of West on April 17.

Officials announced last month that ammonium nitrate caused that deadly accident, which left at least 15 people dead and more than 160 injured.

NBC News' Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 6:57 PM EDT

Residents of a Houston neighborhood are being warned to stay away from giant African land snails after a woman found one in her garden and snapped a photo of it.

The snails, researchers warn, are potentially dangerous to touch, in part because they can carry meningitis. Scientists have warned anyone who comes in contact with them to wash their hands thoroughly.

"They also carry a parasitic disease that can cause a lot of harm to humans and sometimes even death," Autumn Smith-Herron, director of the Institute for the Study of Invasive Species at Sam Houston State University, told NBC Houston affiliate KPRC.

A woman gardening in the Briar Forest neighborhood of Houston found the snail and notified workers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center who deal with invasive plants. It is the first reported sighting of the mollusk in Texas, and no one seems to know how it got there.

The giant snails can lay 100 eggs per month, and though only one has been found, it is believed more are in the area.

Jack Fendrick, who lives near where the slimy giant was discovered, said he will do his part to warn of the potentially deadly snails.

"I think most kids especially would look at a big snail and want to touch it," he said. "That's scary."

In a fiery speech Saturday before cheering supporters, the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre took on advocates for new gun laws and said a national background check bill “got the defeat that it deserved."

“We will never surrender our guns, never,” LaPierre, the organization's executive vice president, said on the second day of the gun-rights group’s convention in Houston, Texas.

He argued that recent mass shootings, including the killing of 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school in December, have been used “to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda.”

The gun rights lobby’s convention was part victory celebration, part pep rally as the NRA’s leaders cheered the defeat of a background check bill and said they would oppose any new attempts to pass national legislation on guns.

“Our feet are planted firmly in the foundation of freedom, unswayed by the winds of political and media insanity,” LaPierre said. “To the political and media elites who scorn us, we say let them be damned.”

A bill supported by President Barack Obama that would have expanded background checks on gun purchases would have done nothing to stop recent mass shootings, LaPierre said. That bill was defeated in the Senate last month.

“The bill wouldn’t have prevented Newtown or Aurora,” LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, said in his speech to several thousand attendees. “It won’t prevent the next tragedy. None of it has anything to do with keeping our children safer in any school anywhere.”

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, co-sponsored the background check bill. Toomey has said the bill failed to pass because members of the GOP did not want to hand the White House a policy victory.

LaPierre also referenced the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt as an argument for putting guns in the hands of more Americans.

“How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago?” LaPierre said. “Boston proves it. When brave law enforcement officers did their jobs in that city so courageously, good guys with guns stopped terrorists with guns.”

NRA officials confirmed to NBC News that LaPierre’s remarks were the first time the organization had brought up the Boston Marathon bombings in connection with their political fight against new restrictions on guns.

The annual convention was expected to draw about 70,000 people over three days. As many as 550 exhibitors were packed into the George R. Brown Convention Center, bringing with them racks and display cases filled with handguns, rifles, and other firearms.

LaPierre claimed that the NRA’s membership stood at 5 million and said the organization aimed to amass 10 million members.

A lifetime membership in the NRA costs $1,000, and the organization was able to claim that both its youngest and its oldest lifetime members were in attendance on Saturday.

Wayne Burd of Arkansas was born in 1917, and was recognized for the second year running as the rifle association’s oldest lifetime member. Among the freshest faces present was the group’s youngest lifetime member, Elaih Wagan, a 3-year-old from Austin, Texas. Wagan's grandfather purchased a lifetime membership as a gift for the little girl.

NBC News’ Kasie Hunt and Gabe Gutierrez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related: 

• NRA annual meeting convenes as gun-control debate rages
• Toomey: Background check plan failed because of Republican politics
• Republican politicians pay tribute to NRA clout at annual meeting

A day after heavy downpours flooded Texas and parts of the South – dumping as much as 7 inches of rain in some areas – waters were receding in Houston on Sunday morning, officials said.

“It’s a nice, beautiful and very green day today – not a cloud in the sky,” said Houston Fire Department spokesman Sgt. Jay Evans.

There were no reports of death or injuries, according to Evans. He added that evacuation trucks arrayed in the southwest and southeast borders of the city were not used during the onslaught of rainwater Saturday.

On Saturday, Houston firefighters conducted at least 150 rescues of motorists who accidentally drove into high water and became trapped in their vehicles, Evans said.

In Tennessee, animals reportedly escaped from a shelter after it was slammed by severe weather.

An unknown number of animals were on the loose in Fayette County, Tenn., early Sunday, after Fayette County Animal Rescue was damaged in a tumultuous storm, NBC’s WMCTV.com reported.

The line of weekend storms stretched from the Texas-Mexico border through Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. The rough weather was caused by the collision of a cold front and warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

Cody Duty / AP

Cars are stranded in southwest Houston, which was flooded after an afternoon downpour Saturday.

This story was originally published on Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:10 PM EDT

Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle via AP, file

Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, seen here posing at the sales center at one of his Houston developments in 2002, died on Saturday. He was 80.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Republican mega-donor Bob Perry never cared for the spotlight. But writing big checks and financing one of the most famous television ads ever in a presidential campaign made the Texas millionaire famous nonetheless.

A wealthy Houston homebuilder who shunned publicity while generously bankrolling GOP candidates — and becoming a force in a new era of lavish spending in American politics — Perry died over the weekend, said former Texas state Rep. Neal Jones, a close family friend.

Jones said late Sunday that Perry died "peacefully in his sleep" Saturday night. He did not offer further details.

"Mr. Perry was a wonderful friend to many all around the United States," Jones said. "With his passing we've lost a great patriot who has made a great difference in the lives of people all across the land. He will be sorely missed."

Perry was a fixture of GOP fundraising in Texas — and nationally — dating back to former President George W. Bush's Texas gubernatorial races in the mid-1990s. His largesse included giving $4.4 million in 2004 to the Swift Boat Veterans campaign that sought to discredit then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

Perry spent prolifically on politics but did so from a distance. He rarely gave interviews, skipped fancy fundraisers and was a mystery to even many of his benefactors.

Yet Perry couldn't avoid attention following his financing of the Swift Boat ads, which challenged Kerry's wartime service in Vietnam for which he received five medals. Some Democrats blamed Kerry's slow response to the criticism for sinking his candidacy.

Perry donated money to help start the veterans group at the urging of his friend John O'Neill, a Houston attorney who co-wrote "Unfit for Command," a book that questions Kerry's military service.

Bill Miller, an Austin lobbyist who Perry hired as a spokesman when scrutiny surrounding the ads erupted, said in 2004 that Perry's donation to the Swift Boat Veterans reflected his belief in the group's message.

"In my conversations with Bob, he just said, 'John contacted me, told me what he was trying to do, and it sounded good to me.' That's really the way he does it," Miller said in 2004. "People call him and pitch him, and if he likes what he hears, he'll write a check."

Perry was also a prominent financial supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but was not related. He was the founder of Houston-based Perry Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in Texas.

Last year alone, Bob Perry gave more than $18 million to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and organizations that backed his candidacy. That ranked him third among all Romney donors, behind only Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons.

Perry was also involved in state politics. Late last year, he gave $45,000 to George P. Bush, the 36-year-old nephew of former President George W. Bush who is now running for Texas Land Commissioner in his first bid for public office.

Perry's generosity extended to other statehouses, included in Wisconsin last year as Republican Gov. Scott Walker fought efforts for a recall. Perry donated at least $250,000 to help Walker keep his job, making Perry among the largest out-of-state donors.

Raised by a father who was a teacher and later became dean of students at Baylor University, Perry started his career as a high school teacher after college. But he switched professions in 1968 and established Perry Homes, where he made his fortune.

Related:

Money can't buy happiness, or an election

Builder who helped air 'Swift Boat' ads gives $3 million to pro-Romney super PAC

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:21 AM EDT

At least 14 people were hurt Tuesday in a stabbing spree at a Texas community college apparently carried out by a student who was later taken into custody, authorities said.

At least two victims were in critical condition. It was not immediately clear how severe the other injuries were. The stabbing happened at the CyFair campus of Lone Star College, in the Houston suburb of Cypress.

Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle via AP

Dylan Quick, right, a suspect in the multiple stabbings on the Lone Star CyFair campus, is escorted by a Harris County Sheriff's Office investigator on Tuesday.

Law enforcement officials have identified student Dylan Andrew Quick, 20, as the suspected assailant, and the Harris County District Attorney's Office has filed three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 

Bond has been set at $100,000 for each charge, but more could be filed, officials said.

Quick used a "razor-type knife" in the attack, according to a statement from the Harris County Sheriff's Office. He told authorities he had fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school, and indicated he had been planning the attack for long period of time.

The school said the attack happened “in and around” its health science building.

Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute said it had two patients in critical condition and six in all, including four flown there by helicopter. Three patients were upgraded to good condition Tuesday evening and one had been discharged.

A spokeswoman for another hospital, North Cypress Medical Center, said it had taken six stabbing victims who were in stable condition.

Two other victims were treated at the scene and declined to be taken to the hospital, the sheriff said.

The school closed for the day and ordered students to find shelter somewhere safe. Campus police caught the suspect, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. The school will open Wednesday for regularly scheduled classes. Counselors will be on hand to speak with students and employees.

The stabbing happened just after 11 a.m., a college official said. The school had warned students that a second suspect might be at large, but sheriff’s officials said later that they believed they had the only suspect in custody.

Lone Star College student Kayla Brightkrite was walking down an empty hall on her way to class Tuesday when a teacher quickly pulled her into his classroom, she told NBC News in an email.

Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle

Life Flight personnel rush a stabbing victim off a helicopter at a Houston hospital after a stabbing spree Tuesday near Lone Star College in Cypress, Texas.

She initially had no idea an attack had taken place until other students quietly huddled in the room told her.

"I asked a guy what was going on and they said a kid had just been stabbed in the neck down the hall from them and they heard someone scream, 'Oh my God! Call 911!'" she recalled.

Brightkrite stayed in the classroom for nearly 45 minutes until school officials said they could exit out the back of the building.

In the parking lot, she saw a man in handcuffs being put in a police car. "He looked at me and once he got into the car, he gave me a large demented smile," Brightkrite said

In January, three people were shot at a separate campus of the same college. A federal official said that those shootings appeared to be gang-related. A 22-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault.

The Lone Star system of colleges has 90,000 students in all.

Related content:

• Student: I tackled Lone Star stabbing suspect 

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 8:38 PM EDT

A 4-year-old boy is in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself in the face with a loaded handgun he found in his father's furniture chest, Houston police officials said.

"I was careless for one minute. I was careless," the boy's father, Jose Luis Nunez, told reporters.

The boy reportedly climbed onto a tall dresser in his parents' apartment and discovered a hidden handgun just before midnight Tuesday. He then accidentally fired the weapon at his head, according to the Houston Police Department's official press release. 

"The child was supposed to be asleep in the room. The parents were outside of the room in different areas of the house and heard the discharge, heard what they thought was a gunshot, and entered the room and fund the child inside with the injury," Sgt. Brian Evans told NBC station WWLP 22.

The boy's father called 911 immediately after he found his seriously wounded son. He was taken to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

A 2-year-old child was asleep in the same room where the shooting took place but was not injured, WWLP 22 reported.

No charges have been filed, but the matter will be reviewed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office, according to police officials.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Oregon shopping mall gunman identified; motive unclear
• Rock legends perform at Sandy benefit show
• Cops: Dad carves pentagram into son's back on 12-12-12
• Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice
• 'Unique' smuggling attempt: $42,500-worth of marijuana shot into Ariz. by cannon
• Much-criticized 'drum major' quote on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to be removed
• Video: Driver ticketed for truck covered in Christmas lights

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook