Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Wed 05/27/2009

Section: B Page: 2 Edition: 3 STAR R.O.

Gunman dies in shootout at jobs center Humble police say the suspect wounded woman

By By DALE LEZON and JENNIFER LATSON

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

ONLINE: Witnesses and police officers talk about the scene in Humble in a video on chron.com

Humble police on Tuesday apparently shot to death a man who had wounded a woman outside an employment office then pointed his pistol at officers, officials said.

The man and woman arrived together at Workforce Solutions, which oversees the employment office northeast of Bush Intercontinental Airport at the 9600 block of the FM 1960 Bypass, according to police. The woman was looking for job prospects.

Their identities were not available on Tuesday.

They began arguing in the parking lot, and the man tried to shoot the woman, who was sitting in the driver's seat of a car, Humble police Lt. Jay Wrobliske said. The 9 mm handgun didn't fire, and she tried to get out of the passenger side, but the man followed and shot at her more than a dozen times, hitting her at least once in the shoulder.

She was taken to a Houston hospital.

Doubt about fatal shot

When police arrived and identified themselves, the man turned and aimed his pistol at them, said Detective Craig Miller. An officer fired one shot at the gunman, who fell dead, Miller said, adding that authorities are investigating whether the officer's bullet killed the man, or if he shot himself.

Gregory Graham, 47, said he was at the employment office when he heard shots and saw the woman stumble in and collapse near the doorway. A man dragged her inside and workers quickly locked the doors, he said.

The woman was crying and screaming while Graham, who grabbed paper towels from the bathroom and used them to help stop the bleeding, and others helped her. Then they heard more gunfire.

"I didn't wake up this morning thinking this was going to happen today," Graham said. "I'm going to go home and think about it and thank God it wasn't me."

‘It's a scary situation'

Wrobliske said the shopping center gets busy as the lunch rush builds and he considered it fortunate no one else was hurt.

"It's a scary situation to get into," Wrobliske said, adding that he appreciated the actions of the people inside the employment office in helping the wounded woman.

dale.lezon@chron.com jennifer.latson@chron.com

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