HOUSTON \u2013 Houston police are searching for a person of interest after a security guard was shot and killed during a robbery inside what investigators described as an illegal game room in Sharpstown.<\/p>\n
Investigators said the call came in Feb. 9 just before 9:30 p.m. Police said people who were inside the business fled after the shooting, but one witness called 911.<\/p>\n
Houston police have released a photo of the person of interest and are asking anyone who recognizes him to contact investigators.<\/p>\n
The business is located inside a strip center on the 7000 block of Bissonnet and appears to blend in with other storefronts. Houston Police Department Lt. JP Horelica told KPRC 2 it was \u201cobvious it was made to look like something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
A hair salon employee a few doors down said she had heard rumors the location was an illegal gambling spot, but she was not sure.<\/p>\n
Another employee at a nearby business told KPRC 2 she had heard the location operated as a shipping center during the day, which appeared consistent with images posted on the windows. The employee said the front area looked like a normal office, but a door behind it led to another room.<\/p>\n
Witnesses also told KPRC 2 that some people appeared to enter through the front and leave through a back door, which could have kept the location from drawing attention.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 asked Houston City Council District J Councilman Edward Pollard about illegal game rooms operating in the city. Pollard said the issue has been a problem for years and said people involved in criminal activity \u201ctry to outsmart HPD and the community at large.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollard urged residents to report suspicious activity, including businesses that appear closed but still have a large number of cars in the parking lot after hours. He also said people should take note of retail-style storefronts that use buzzers to get in, or locations with additional security that would not normally be expected.<\/p>\n
Houston police said if you suspect an illegal game room is operating in your neighborhood, you should report it.<\/p>\n
Anyone who recognizes the person of interest is asked to call Houston police or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Houston police are searching for a person of interest after a security guard was shot and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[294,25989,56,58,57,35904,1138,95],"class_list":["post-170485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-crime","tag-game-room","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-illegal-gambling","tag-robbery","tag-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}