Man shoots himself to death after shooting at Houston officers during welfare check Wednesday – Houston Public Media

Houston police officers were met with gunfire while responding to a welfare check near the medical center Wednesday afternoon.

Officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 7900 block of North Stadium Drive after 1 p.m. for a welfare check on a man approximately 56 years old, Deputy Chief Wyatt Martin said during a news briefing Wednesday.

“Family members contacted police out of concern for the individual’s well-being,” he said.

When they arrived on scene, the police were unable to locate the man or make contact with him. With the help of the Houston Fire Department, police entered his apartment around 2 p.m. and announced their presence before the man opened fire.

Martin said it was unclear whether the bullets were fired directly at the officers. At least two shots were fired and possibly a third.

The officers did not fire their weapons, but instead backed out of the apartment and hid outside while attempting to communicate with the man inside. As police were leaving, the man allegedly shot himself.

SWAT units arrived on scene to evacuate the apartment and pronounced the man dead around 4 p.m.

Martin said the officers involved had already received crisis intervention training.

“We have our own psychology departments that are there for our officers,” Martin said.

“Even though our officers were not hit and did not return fire, it will go through our critical incident program where they will have to do some required visits, talk to our psychological services to make sure that this incident did not had no negative impact on them.