Homeless man shot while sleeping in front of SW Houston shopping center, HPD says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A 29-year-old man is in the hospital in critical condition after a shooting in southwest Houston Wednesday.

Houston police and witnesses told ABC13 that the victim, a homeless man, was sleeping in front of a shuttered shop in a strip mall off of Bissonnet Street, near South Dairy Ashford Road, when he was shot several times.

"He's been shot in both legs, the arm, and the chest," Lt. R Willkens with the Houston Police Department said.

ABC13 obtained surveillance footage of the incident. It shows a masked, hooded man pacing near the sleeping 29-year-old. Eventually, the gunman takes his shoes jostling him awake. Then he opened fire.

Wednesday afternoon, Houston police said they had no suspect or motive. They are asking anyone with information, especially surveillance footage, to contact them.

Willkens said the initial 911 call came in at about 2:50 a.m. The caller said someone was screaming for an ambulance. First responders would later learn the person screaming was the victim.

ABC13 spoke with some witnesses who said they did not call the police because they were afraid of retaliatory violence.

According to the ABC13 neighborhood Safety Tracker, there have been nine homicides in the Huntington Village-Wellington Park-Leawood-Keagans Glen neighborhoods over the past year. The four-year average has hovered around five. The homicide rate per 100,000 people was 24 in the last year. Citywide, the rate was 16.