5 Houston police officers injured, 2 suspects dead in firefight

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Five Houston undercover police officers were injured Monday evening during a firefight that left two suspects dead, law enforcement said.

The Houston Police Department said emergency officials transported the five officers to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, where two officers who were shot in the neck underwent surgery and are in critical but stable condition. Two other officers are listed as in "good condition."

One officer who sustained a gunshot wound to the shoulder has been released from hospital.

Four of the officers sustained bullet wounds while the other sustained a knee injury.

"I am asking for your prayers for them," Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said during a press conference Monday evening that the officers were attempting to serve a search warrant at a house where narcotics including black tar heroin were allegedly sold.

After police notified themselves, they breached the premises and immediately came under fire, Acevedo said.

"One of the suspects actually retreated momentarily to the back of the room and then that suspect came back again and engaged the officers in gunfire," Acevedo said during a media conference Monday night.

The two suspects were shot and pronounced dead at the scene, Acevedo said, adding that it is unknown how many of the police officers fired on the suspects.

The investigation is ongoing.

One of the officers who underwent surgery, the lead case agent into the investigation, had been shot several times since he joined the force in 1984, Acevedo said.

About a dozen narcotics officers and a half dozen patrol officers were at the scene when the search warrant was attempted to be delivered, Acevedo said, adding that the investigation began following a complaint filed by a Houston resident who suspected drugs were being sold from a neighboring residence.