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Man accused of killing grandmother was free on bond
FOX 26 Reporter Randy Wallace spoke with the victim's son two years after the incident happened at a Walgreens parking lot.
HOUSTON - "Whoever imagined that going to Walgreens at 10 a.m. on a Saturday would be dangerous," said Rosalie Cook's son, Chuck.
May 16, 2020, 80-year-old Rosalie Cook was stabbed to death in the parking lot of the Walgreens near the corner of Gessner and South Braeswood in Houston.
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"The day I got that call, it was unbelievable somebody would harm her," Chuck said. "Today, two years later, it's still unbelievable to me that there's someone out there that evil that would stab and murder a woman for her purse and car."
When police arrived, they say Cook's alleged killer, 38-year-old Randy Lewis, lunged at them with the knife. He was shot and killed.
Lewis had been arrested almost 70 times. He was free from jail on two felony personal recognizance bonds.
"A violent man with a criminal history let out without an ankle monitor or anything," said Cook.
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"He was given two felony PR bonds and told he had to live in a group home," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "He did for one day, then he walked out, never heard from again."
No warrant was issued for Lewis's arrest, and two years later, no agency has investigated to see who dropped the ball.
"How in the world can someone with that record walk out of a group home without anybody doing anything, and I'm not talking about a day or two. We're talking about two weeks," Kahan said. "The court wasn't notified, anyone who was supposed to be monitoring his supervision wasn't notified."
"I'm resolved to make a difference, and it's because I don't want anybody else to suffer, like we've suffered, and my mother suffered," Cook said.
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It was a visiting judge that gave Lewis two felony PR bonds.
But Cook wants voters to remember most incumbent judges grant repeat violent offenders multiple bonds.
"They have a voice in that they can vote these people out and make a Harris County a much safer place," said Cook.