HOUSTON — Police are searching for a gunman after a doorman was shot and killed outside a bar in southeast Houston early Sunday morning. A bystander was also hit by gunfire.
This happened at Latina’s Bar on Telephone Road near Fairway Drive around 1:40 a.m.
The Houston Police Department said the incident started when a patron of the club got into an argument with the doorman. They said the patron backed off and grabbed a gun before coming back and opening fire, hitting the doorman and a bystander in the background.
Police said the gunman ran off heading north on Telephone Road.
The Houston Fire Department pronounced the doorman dead at the scene. The bystander, who was hit in the leg, was taken to a hospital and is expected to be OK.
If you know anything about what happened, you’re asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.
Longtime neighbors said violence isn’t uncommon in the area.
“A lot of times, something happens here or across the street or down the road, it doesn’t even make the news,” said Don Mead.
KHOU 11’s Michelle Choi caught up with the 82-year-old resident on one of his early morning walks, picking up cans as he usually does.
“We have no homeowners association, we have no police patrol, we have no civil associations, nothing,” Mead said. “We have no political arm over here at all.”
KHOU 11 looked into the crime numbers for the neighborhood. In just a one-mile radius of where the shooting happened, we found that there were seven aggravated assaults and 14 robberies in 2023. In 2024, robberies went down to eight, but aggravated assaults jumped to 14.
Residents like mead hope that city leaders will come into the area with solutions.
“Just put a little bit more money into this neighborhood,” he said. “There are good people living here.”
Watch the update police gave at the scene: