Woman Shot in Hip in East Houston, Texas Home Invasion on Fleming Drive

A 42-year-old woman was shot in the hip late Tuesday night when two armed men tried to force their way into her east Houston apartment, Houston police said. She was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Police were called at about 11:18 p.m. on Tuesday to an apartment on Fleming Drive, in the Northshore area north of the I-10 East Freeway, Lieutenant R. Willkens said. The woman lived in the unit with a 52-year-old man.

A knock at the door, then two gunmen

The sequence began with a knock that sounded routine. A neighbor the couple knew, who lived across the street at another complex, knocked on the door asking for change, police said.

As that happened, two men armed with handguns ran from the stairwell of the building and tried to force their way inside, demanding money, Willkens said. The male resident fought the first intruder at the door. During the struggle, the second gunman fired into the home and hit the woman in the hip.

The man who had knocked on the door and the suspected shooter then ran from the apartment, police said. The male resident was still fighting the other suspect for the gun when that man also broke away and ran. Police said he dropped his shoes and his phone as he fled.

Evidence left behind

No suspect has been publicly identified. Willkens said investigators are confident they can identify the suspects using the evidence left behind at the scene, which includes the phone and shoes dropped during the escape.

Police have not said whether anything was taken from the apartment, and they have not released descriptions of the men. The woman's name and the name of the man who lived with her were not released. Both are private residents, and police gave no indication that either knew the two gunmen before Tuesday night.

The investigation was still open on Wednesday. Anyone with information about the Fleming Drive shooting can contact Houston police or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

What police have not said

Police have not said whether the knock on the door was part of a plan, and they have not described the man who knocked as a suspect. In the police account he fled with the suspected shooter, but investigators have not publicly assigned him a role. Officers also have not said whether the apartment was chosen at random or targeted, whether the men knew the couple, or whether a vehicle was used to leave the area.

For residents of the Fleming Drive complexes, the open questions are the practical ones: whether the men live nearby, whether they have tried this elsewhere, and how quickly the phone left behind can be traced. Police offered no timeline for an identification on Wednesday, only the statement from Willkens that the evidence gives investigators confidence.