SOUTH HOUSTON, Texas – A police officer shot an armed man outside a funeral home Friday.
City of South Houston police said there was a disturbance at South Houston Funeral Home in the 1500 block of South Highway 3 about 4:15 p.m.
An off-duty officer working an second job at a neighboring grocery store stopped by to say hello and noticed a fight or argument that seemed to be escalating in the parking lot of the funeral home.
The officers went over to the funeral home said several people involved in the disturbance told them that a man had a gun, police said.
The police chief said the officers confronted the man, but the man turned around and pointed a gun in the air.
"Several commands for him to drop the weapon," Police Chief Herbert Gilbert said. "He turned towards one of the officers, and that's when the other officer fired upon him."
The man was wounded in the chest. He was treated at the scene before he was taken to Herman Memorial Southeast Hospital. Gilbert said the gunman was undergoing surgery Friday night.
The gunman, identified as Jerome Barrera, Jr., 25, was also able to fire one shot, but no one else was hurt, Gilbert said.
Police said they were not sure if the man was attending the viewing that was being held at the funeral home.
The officer who fired was identified as Enrique Guzman IV, a 6 year veteran of the South Houston Police Department.