Dog Dispute Leaves Two Critically Injured at Houston Grocery Store Shootout

Image Credit: Houston Police / X. An argument over a dog at a Houston supermarket ended with a customer and a security guard shot Friday night, October 9.

The call came just after 8 p.m. at Great Wall Supermarket in Chinatown, in the 9800 block of Bellaire Boulevard near Beltway 8, ABC13 reported. Officers heard shots as they arrived.

The customer, described as a man in his 20s, had entered the store with his girlfriend and a dog. Neither the girlfriend nor the dog was injured; she remained at the scene for questioning.

Both wounded men were taken to a hospital in critical condition, the Houston Police Department announced. At a briefing recorded by Houston Stringer that night, an HPD lieutenant said both were undergoing surgery and officers were checking their conditions.

Embedded media follows; please allow a moment for it to load.

The security guard told the customer the dog was not allowed inside because of health concerns. An argument followed, and the two exchanged gunfire.

The customer tried to flee, and officers chased him down and arrested him, ABC13’s on-scene reporter said. Officers provided first aid to both wounded men before they were transported to the hospital.

“We believe we have everybody that discharged a firearm in custody,” the HPD lieutenant said. Police were seeking surveillance video for the follow-up investigation.

The disruption also reached Juicy Box, a restaurant a few doors away. FOX 26 obtained surveillance video from inside the restaurant and reported that it showed people running toward the kitchen to escape the gunfire.

One employee, who was working in the back with her manager, described about 20 people suddenly rushing into the kitchen. “All I hear is run, run, run,” she told the station.

Pet dogs generally cannot accompany shoppers inside food establishments under the animal restrictions in the FDA’s 2017 Food Code, adopted through Texas’s food-establishment rules. The code provides specified exceptions to its restriction on live animals.

The Texas Department of State Health Services explains that qualifying service animals may accompany people with disabilities in sales and dining areas open to customers, rather than food-preparation areas. Service animals are not treated as pets.

Under U.S. Department of Justice guidance, a service dog must be trained to perform a task related to a person’s disability. Emotional support or comfort alone does not qualify, and a vest or service-animal certification is not required.

When a dog’s service-animal role is not obvious, staff may ask whether it is required because of a disability and what work or task it has been trained to perform. They cannot demand certification, ask about the person’s disability, or require the dog to demonstrate its task.

A business can ask for a service dog to be removed if it is not housebroken, or if it is out of control and its handler cannot bring it under control. The available accounts do not establish whether the dog in this shooting was a service animal.

All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Olivia Richman has been a journalist for 10 years, specializing in esports, games, cars, and all things tech. When she isn’t writing nerdy stuff, Olivia is taking her cars to the track, eating pho, and playing the Pokemon TCG.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.