H-E-B customer turns himself in after more than 40 law enforcement officers respond to shooting

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Shots fired inside a northwest Harris County H-E-B store on Tuesday afternoon sent shoppers and employees running for the exit.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said no one was hurt when two rounds were fired during what they called a disturbance between two men that escalated.

The chaos unfolded at 3:48 p.m. at the store located on Louetta Road near Highway 249. Deputies said the man who fired the shots and the person he was targeting took off. The suspect is in custody after he surrendered at an HCSO substation in Tomball.

Deputies were still trying to track down the other person involved in the disturbance for questioning.

According to HCSO Maj. John Nanny, the two men got into a verbal disturbance in one of the aisles that escalated and was captured on store surveillance cameras.

One of the men appeared threatened, backed off, and then pulled out a pistol, Nanny said. Both men appeared to be H-E-B customers, and the exact cause of the disturbance was not immediately known.

Despite the chaos caused by the shooting, no one was hit by gunfire. There were no other injuries reported.

The sheriff’s office has not yet identified who’s in custody other than to say he’s a Black man in his 40s.

The case is being deferred to the district attorney’s office, though, Nanny believed aggravated assault counts would apply in this case.

Eyewitness News asked the sheriff’s office why the incident was initially termed an “active shooter call,” to which Nanny clarified that it wasn’t.

“It was a lot of people evacuating the store, which appeared, obviously, chaotic, and rightfully so. But it was not an active shooter, by no means. It was a disturbance that escalated,” Nanny said.

More than 40 law enforcement officers responded to the scene, Nanny added.