Gunman injures 9 near Texas shopping centre before police shoot him dead
Six people are in hospital after a gunman opened fire near a Houston, Texas shopping centre early Monday morning — firing randomly at passersby and commuters before he was shot and killed by police.
One of the victims is in critical condition, and another is in serious condition, according to Houston's interim police chief Martha Montalvo.
Three other people suffered minor injuries and were treated and released on the scene, Montalvo told reporters.
The attack, which started shortly before dawn, at about 6:30 a.m. CT, ended "soon after" police arrived and returned fire, she said.
But Montalvo cautioned that the scene was still considered active, as police, including members of the bomb squad and two police robots, searched the victim's body and car — which was parked near the scene of the shooting. The FBI is also involved in the investigation.
There were "numerous weapons" in the car, she said.
The gunman's identity hasn't been released. Montalvo said only he was a lawyer who lived in the area who may have had "issues" at his law firm. She did not elaborate.
The gunman's apartment will also be searched, she said. The area — at the intersections of Weslayan and Law streets in the city's southwest — is close to an upscale shopping plaza and a number of residential buildings.
Shattered car windows
Montalvo said the gunman fired "indiscriminately" at passing people and vehicles, and that his motivation remains unclear.
Broken glass from shattered car windows littered the plaza's parking lot, where the gunman fired 20 to 30 shots.
"I am just hearing the bullets literally whiz by my window," an unidentified woman who witnessed the shooting told the station as she stood next to a car with two bullet holes in the windshield.
Another witness, 30-year-old Antwon Wilson, inadvertently drove into the shooting scene after dropping off his girlfriend at work and could "literally hear the gunfire flying." He managed to flee and escape injury.
