HOUSTON – An investigation is underway after an officer-involved shooting in southwest Houston around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
According to authorities, the incident happened in the parking lot of a hotel near the Southwest Freeway at the Bellfort exit after police received a call about a suspicious person.
When they arrived, the manager alerted officers about a man with a gun hiding inside the restroom of the Comfort Inn and Suites.
Police said two officers entered the hotel and tried to detain the man, but he ran out into the nearby service road.
VIDEO: Police give updates on officer-involved shooting
The officers followed him out and asked the man several times to drop his weapon, but the man refused and continued to lead authorities on a foot chase that ended on the south side of the hotel, police said.
Officers said the man tried to go back inside the hotel, at which point the officers shot at the man out of concern for their safety as well as the safety of hotel guests and employees.
The man went down immediately and was given first aid before being transported in critical condition to a nearby hospital, where he is undergoing surgery, police said.
Assistant HPD Chief Troy Finner expressed his concern for the man but also took time to emphasize the officers did what they could to not shoot and are visibly shaken by the incident.
"I'm going to ask for prayers for him," said Finner. "He did have a family, but I will say this: People don't understand just how difficult our jobs are sometimes. I want to commend these officers. They did everything that they could do today to not shoot this individual. People don't understand the emotional pull and stress on an officer that has to shoot someone."
No officers were injured in the shooting.
Authorities are still investigating the motive behind the incident. Police do not believe the man was a guest at the hotel.
Officials said Senior Police Officer Steven Deroam, sworn in as an officer in December 2002, and Officer George Craig, sworn-in in March 2012, were involved in the shooting. Both officers are assigned to the Westside Patrol Division.