HOUSTON – Authorities have identified the security guard they said was killed during a shootout at a northwest Houston strip mall Thursday afternoon.
The deadly shootout happened just doors down from Bruce Trung's business.
"We were working and I saw people just running out and screaming. Just scared, freaked out," Trung said.
The seemingly inconspicuous vacant shop that reads "for lease" was anything but.
A peak inside the back door shows a row of gaming machines; authorities said this is game room and the person working security is now dead.
"This business has only been open for a few months. And it's unfortunate that someone comes in here a takes the life of another for nothing," Todd Colbert, HPD Homicide, said.
Authorities said around 3:15 Thursday afternoon someone came in to rob the place and ended up getting into a shootout with the security guard, identified by Houston police as 34-year-old Pedro Garcia.
"I saw a Hispanic lady, she came to my store saying, 'I'm scared, I'm scared.' I asked her why. She said, 'We got robbed, we got robbed over there,'" Trung said.
Both the gunman and Garcia were hit. Garcia was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he later died.
Garcia's death has left the businesses at this shopping strip shaken.
That gunman, who police said was hit in the leg, was able to get away with another person who was waiting in a truck. Police are still looking for the pair.
"It scared me, too, really scared me," Trung said.