On the evening of June 2, 2024, two men were found fatally shot in separate locations near downtown Houston. Richard Nugent, 38, was discovered on the sidewalk at 699 Franklin Street near the Buffalo Bayou Trail with two gunshot wounds to the head. Sixty-six-year-old RJ Lewis was found with fatal gunshot wounds to the head on a stairwell at the intersection of Congress and Smith Streets. Both were pronounced dead at the scene by Houston Fire Department paramedics.

Police initially had no clear motive or suspect. Surveillance images released June 20 showed a person of interest described as a Black male with a goatee, possibly a beard, carrying a small dark bag or fanny pack. A tip led investigators to identify 37-year-old Bruce Butler, who was located under an emergency detention order at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Butler told detectives he shot Nugent and Lewis while they were sleeping along the walking path, said he disposed of the firearm by selling it to an unknown homeless individual, and claimed a religious motivation for the killings.

On June 24 Butler was charged with capital murder and booked into the Harris County Joint Processing Center; his record includes prior car burglary and assault causing bodily injury offenses. The deaths have raised concern about the safety of homeless people in the area. Does anyone have information about RJ Lewis, his routines, or what he may have been doing near Congress and Smith Streets that evening?