HOUSTON – The Houston Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying three men involved in a deadly robbery that happened on Thursday.
What happened
An armored truck guard, Francis Hazzard, died Thursday after being shot in the face during a robbery outside a northwest Houston restaurant.
The shooting was reported about 1:45 p.m. at the corner of Antoine Drive and Weeping Willow Road.
READ: Armored truck guard shot, killed during northwest Houston robbery
Deadly robbery caught on surveillance
According to Assistant Police Chief Pedro Lopez, of the Houston Police Department, video of the incident shows three people armed with pistols and a rifle running up to the guard as he was walking from the restaurant to the truck and shooting him as many as three times.
After shooting the guard, the trio grabbed some money and jumped into a champagne-colored Chevrolet Tahoe that was reported stolen a few days earlier and fled the scene, Lopez said. The Tahoe was found abandoned not far from where the shooting happened, Lopez said.
Lopez said video from the area where the Tahoe was abandoned showed the three men jumping into a 2014 black Chevrolet Impala and fleeing.
Surveillance photos released
On Friday, police released three photos of the robbery. In two of the photos, you can see the victim's shadow, where he is holding an object over his head and then over his face before he was killed.
“These individuals are very dangerous,” Lopez said.
Glynda Williams, a friend of the victim explained, “you just don’t expect those kinds of things to happen. I was floored. I just cannot believe it.”
Those who knew Hazzard say they can’t believe he’s gone.
“If you want the money, take the money, but don’t take the man’s life,” said Williams.
Friends say Hazzard was a kind man who always had words of encouragement for others.
Williams said, “he will be greatly missed. The world was a better place as a result of him being here.”
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $55,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspects involved.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Houston Police Department Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.