HPD officers shot at by armed robber during SE Houston chase

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- An armed robbery suspect is in custody, but not before he fired shots at police officers Friday morning during a chase.

It began before 8:30 a.m. in southeast Houston, according to a tweet from the Houston Police Department.

The man held up a Family Dollar in the 12300 block of Martin Luther King Blvd around 8:20 a.m., according to Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. HPD officers spotted the man nearby and tried to stop him when he took off.

The suspect fired several shots at officers during the chase, which ended several miles away at Airport Blvd. and Monroe near Hobby Airport, Acevedo said. Bullets struck the HPD cruisers that were in pursuit.

Video from SkyEye showed the vehicle that had crashed into a wooden fence at a hotel. It took around 15 minutes for officers to catch the man and used a Houston Police canine in the process, according to Acevedo.

"This is a case that I think illustrates once again that our police officers, under very trying circumstances on a regular basis, do the jobs and take people into custody without deploying deadly force, even when people apply deadly force on them," Acevedo said.

The man was injured when a police dog bit him while taking him into custody, according to Acevedo.