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Witnesses reported to police that several men entered the Tai Loi restaurant with handguns. And shot and killed two men having dinner there. The “hit’ took place in Alief, a suburb of Houston, Texas. Police responded to the 12300 block of Bellaire Boulevard in Southwest Houston.

According to police reports, this happened at 11:05 p.m. on Wednesday.

The murdered men were customers at the Vietnamese restaurant. And were sitting in a booth. 

The officers who responded found both men unresponsive.  And suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. They were both pronounced dead in the Tai Loi restaurant before being transported to a local hospital.

The victims were described as a 63-year-old man and another man between 30 to 40 years of age. Police have not released the identities of the victims, pending notification of next-of-kin. 

The suspects ran off after the shooting. Witnesses describe them as Asian males.

Investigators noted that all the customers left the scene when the shooting began. When police arrived on the scene only the shooting victims and the restaurant staff were present.  It is unknown how many people were initially inside the restaurant. 

Although there is no known motive for the deaths, police believe the victims were targeted. Investigators are reviewing area surveillance footage to find other witnesses or hoping to get images of the suspects.

Violent crime in Texas up

Texas recently adopted the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) used by the FBI. It is expected that the database will help with crime tracking and information sharing. But experts say that the numbers don’t reveal enough about the nationwide rise in violence.

Texas had 113,672 violent crime incidents reported in 2021. This is an increase from 94,373 incidents reported in 2020.

However, Houston’s numbers were slightly down last year with the number of violent-crime incidents reported between 2021 (28,325) and 2020 (29,474). 

The clearance rate for violent incidents also declined from 7,464 in 2021 compared to 8,172 in 2020.

Anyone with information on this case or any homicide case in Houston please contact:

HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 

Or if you need to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.