HCSO: Dead suspect in smoke shop hold up had pellet gun

HOUSTON – A man who tried to rob a northeast Harris County smoke shop and was shot when the clerk fought back was holding up the store with a pellet gun, investigators have learned.

Harris County sheriff's deputies said they got a call about a robbery at the Northside 420 Smoke Shop in the 11900 block of the Eastex Freeway near Winfield about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

"An older guy tried to come rob one of my employees," said Mario Campos, the owner of the store. "He put a gun to his face."

Campos said the man had asked his employee for a couple of items, and when the employee came back, the man had a gun.

"He just said, 'I want all of it … all of the money,'" Campos said.

The employee grabbed a gun from behind the counter and fired two shots at the man, deputies said.

The man stumbled outside the store after being wounded and then collapsed in the parking lot, investigators said. He died at the scene. His name has not been released.