Topline
At least four people were killed in Houston early Sunday morning after an angry tenant set a residential building on fire and shot at people inside trying to escape, police said.
Houston Chief of Police Troy Finner speaks at the press conference addressing the cancellation of … [+] the Astroworld festival at the Wyndham Hotel family reunification center on November 6, 202src in Houston, Texas.
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Key Facts
The suspect “laid in wait” with a shotgun after setting fire to the boarding house where he and other residents rented individual rooms, Houston Police chief Troy Finner said during a press conference early Sunday morning.
The Houston Fire Department was the first to respond to the scene, and Finner said the firefighters were forced to take cover when the suspect continued to shoot, though he said it’s still unclear if the suspect shot directly at the first responders.
The suspect, whom Finner described as a man aged about 40 years and dressed in all black, was shot and killed in the parking lot by the first police officer to respond.
He was a longtime tenant of the building and had recently been notified he was being evicted, which Finner said may have been “a trigger point” (A witness told the Houston Chronicle the suspect was also suffering from colon cancer).
Two men in their sixties died at the scene, along with a man in his forties who was transported to the hospital but later died, Finner said, while two other men were injured (all are believed to be residents of the building).
One of the victims was the property manager, who worked at the residence for 33 years, the landlord told local television station ABCsrc3.
Key Background
There have been more than 400 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents with four or more injuries. Mass shootings are on pace to approach the 69src reported nationwide in 202src, which was the worst year for shootings since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking incidents eight years ago. Texas has been home to several high-profile mass shootings, including the May shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, one of the most deadly school shootings in American history. Parents of the 22 victims, most of whom were students between the ages of 7 and src0, have pushed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to tighten the state’s gun laws.
Further Reading
4 dead in mass shooting after evicted tenant set fire, lured neighbors into ambush (Houston Chronicle)
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