Four people died early Sunday after an apparent arson and an officer-involved shooting in Houston.
Police said the suspect set fire to several residences and then fired upon those who fled, according to KHOU.
The incident took place at about 1 a.m.
Firefighters arrived but took cover when they heard shots, uncertain if the shots were meant for them.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said a Houston police officer who responded confronted a suspect armed with a shotgun. The officer then killed the suspect.
Finner said that, by way of possible motive, the suspect may have been recently evicted, which could’ve led to the shooting.
Finner said the incident began with multiple calls for assistance.
“HFD and HPD received multiple calls. One call came in as a person down, another call came in as a shooting. Also, a fire call came in,” Finner said, according to Newsweek.
“This suspect, unfortunately, and very sadly and very evilly set fire to several residences. Laid waiting for those residents to come out and fired upon them,” Finner said.
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Finner said the suspect was a black male who was about 40 years old.
“That suspect is on the scene deceased. We have two other individuals on the scene, deceased. They are both white males in their 60s,” Finner said.
“We have another African-American male who was approximately 40 years old, transported to the hospital deceased,” Finner said.
At least two other people were injured.
This is some footage of the fire in southwest #Houston with multiple fatalities early Sunday morning in the 5700 block of Holly and the 8000 block of Dunlap. Details are still unclear, but there was an officer-involved shooting at the same location as well. #hounews pic.twitter.com/FahrcNaZRy
— RD (@htownstringer) August 28, 2022
“Another male, approximately 40 to 50 years old was transported to the hospital with an injury of a shot to his arm. Another male who was running away was injured, but he was not transported to the hospital,” Finner said.
Finner said the shooting is part of a larger trend.
“I want to say something. It’s sad what’s going on in our nation, and I always ask for a prayer, and I’m going to ask for one right now,” Finner said.
“All of these families. Can you imagine some of them probably haven’t been notified just of yet. It’s currently 1 o’clock in the morning. But please pray,” Finner said.
“I’ve seen things that I haven’t seen before in 32 years, and it’s happened time and time again,” Finner said, KHOU reported.
