There were never any advertisements or signs promoting the business, but somehow neighbors knew exactly what was going on behind its closed doors.

“I knew it was a gambling establishment,” area resident Pat Magee said.

It was at that establishment that a security guard was shot and killed early Sunday morning – a crime that’s left the neighborhood questioning how the business can stay open.

“Don’t know exactly how the shooting occurred, but he ends up getting shot, took a bullet into the leg,” HPD’s Bobby Roberts said.

Detectives say the unidentified victim was working security at an alleged secret gaming room when three armed men stormed inside.

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Police work the scene of a shooting at an alleged secret game room.

After shooting the guard at the door, officers say the suspects held up all of the customers, taking a few thousand dollars before fleeing the scene.

“Somebody is making a lot of money out of those things, and that’s why they do it,” resident Al Magee said.

Neighbors said they’re not surprised to see the crime tape so close to home.

“Someone is always getting killed on W. Bellfort, down on the corner store, things happen around by the apartments all the time,” Tanya Jones said.

But what does puzzle them is how these so-called secret gambling rooms operate in the first place.

“I’m not sure how they operate legally, but it seems like they shouldn’t be able to,” Magee said.

Magee said this latest murder is just another example of why gaming rooms should be shut down altogether.  The games may attract some, but he said the money always attracts the crooks. 

Investigators say the number of crimes happening at game rooms is on the rise, but shutting them down because of alleged illegal activity is more difficult than it seems.

Still, the city council is working on an ordinance to put more restrictions on the game rooms and hopefully stem the wave of crime surrounding them.