Pasadena police shoot armed man at apartment complex

PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- Pasadena police officers shot a man they say was holding a gun at an apartment complex in the 330 block of Richey Street.

Officers were called to the Las Villas Apartments by residents who reported a man causing a disturbance in the breezeway of the apartment complex.

Officers spotted the man and told him to show his hands, but instead, they say, he threatened them. As the man began to pull out his hands, officers spotted the gun and opened fire.

Medics airlifted the man to Hermann Hospital. He is expected to survive. There's no word on what charges he might face, if any.

No officers were injured.

Police say they are investigating why the man had the gun and what he was doing.

Neighbors say nothing like this has happened here before. Resident Anthony Lopez said, "We just heard gunshots -- a lot and very loud -- and we looked out and there's a man laying right over there on the ground bleeding out and there was just cops everywhere. They shut it down. It must have been something pretty bad because they shot that poor man a lot. His wife was out there and she was all scared an panicked, and she kept saying that she didn't mean for this to happen."

Pasadena Police Department's Vance Mitchell said, "The officers are fine, but obviously, they were in fear of their lives when the man had a gun so they fired their weapons."