The Houston Police Department terminated a police officer following his arrest for allegedly shooting his wife in the face.
HPD announced on Twitter on Tuesday that Galib Chowdhury, 31, was fired following his arrest on June 12 for allegedly shooting his wife, Sadaf Iqbal, 30, in the face.
The shooting occurred sometime before 1 a.m. and officials arrived at the scene shortly after. Chowdhury was arrested and was charged with aggravated assault of a family member with serious bodily injury later that day. Chowdhury made $125,000 bail.
Iqbal was transported to a local hospital where she underwent an emergency surgery. She had multiple serious injuries to her right eyeball, several fractures to her right hand and fingers.
At the hospital, Iqbal told medical staff that Chowdhury had accidentally shot her. Chowdhury claims that he was protecting himself from someone who had broken into their residence and accidentally shot his wife. However, court documents show that Chowdhury had sent angry texts to his wife prior to the shooting and that the crime scene is not consistent with his story. The department’s investigation led them to believe he purposefully shot his wife.
Chowdhury is set to appear in court for arraignment on Aug 22.
Houston Public Media reached out to Chowdhury's attorney for comment, but didn’t received a response.
Chowdhury had been an officer with HPD since March 2021, and was assigned to the Northwest Patrol Division.