HOUSTON – One person is dead after a police officer opened fire on a group of three robbery suspects at a pawn shop in northwest Houston.
The shooting happened Thursday around 2:30 p.m. at the The Cash Store in the 13500 block of the Northwest Freeway feeder road and Tidwell.
A Houston Police Department spokesperson told KPRC 2 that officers had been following the suspects all day because they believed the men were involved in previous cash store robberies.
According to HPD, one of the suspects walked into the business unarmed and was soon followed by two others who had their guns drawn. Police said the suspects tried to rob the business.
The two armed robbers left the cash store and when confronted by police, pointed their weapons at officers and would not drop them.
Police said officers shot and killed one suspect, the second is in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The identities of both men have not been released.
The unarmed suspect barricaded himself inside a nearby business.
"At the time that I got out of my vehicle, I could see that there was one suspect lying dead on the ground in a pool of blood with basically a lot of money," said one witness.
The barricaded suspect fell through the roof of the business and was taken into custody following a SWAT standoff.
A third suspect was wounded and transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition.
HPD released the names of the three police officers who fired their guns at the suspects: Sgt. H. Torres, and officers J. Sanders and T. Curtner. All three are assigned to the North Patrol Division Tactical Team.
The shooting remains under investigation by HPD's homicide and internal affairs divisions and the Harris County District Attorney's Office.