Gunman dead after game room standoff

An armed man died Tuesday morning after shooting into a restaurant and sparking a SWAT scene at a game room near Alief, police said.

The man was pronounced dead around 5:30 a.m. It’s unclear whether he was hit by a Houston police officer’s gunfire, or whether he died of a self-inflicted wound.

The incident began around 12:47 a.m., when officers were dispatched to a shooting call at a restaurant in the 12300 block of Bellaire Boulevard. The man, who had been denied entry into the same restaurant the day before for carrying a gun, fired a round and grazed an employee in the head, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. The employee is expected to survive.

Witnesses told officers that after the shooting, the man fled to an adjacent game room, Acevedo said.

The officers cleared the game room and found the gunman hiding upstairs in a tight, attic-like area between two air conditioning units. They gave him commands to show his hands, and he refused to comply, according to the chief.

A shot was fired, and an officer, J. Duncan, returned several rounds of gunfire, police said.

Officers weren’t able to make contact with the man again. They approached him and found him shot in the head, with a pistol in his left hand, around 5:30 a.m., the chief said.

The officer who fired at the man has been with HPD for two years and will be placed on administrative leave, as is customary, Acevedo said. He was wearing a body-worn camera at the time.

The chief said it’s possible that illegal activity was happening at the game room.

“We have a problem in this area with game rooms,” Acevedo said. “They attract crime, they attract a criminal element, and we believe that illegal gaming is part of what’s going on at this establishment.”

The game room will be investigated.