At least four people were killed and two others were injured on Sunday morning (local time) after a man set fire to a building and then shot at people fleeing in Houston, according to city police chief Troy Finner.
At a press conference, the police chief said that among the four killed was the suspect, CNN reported. The suspect was later killed by a Houston police officer. According to Finner, the victims were all men, and ranged in age from 40 to 60.
“This suspect, unfortunately, and very sadly, and very evilly, set fire to several residents,” Finner said during the press conference, as quoted by CNN.
The suspect then “laid in wait for those residents to come out and fired upon them,” he said. The fire department arrived at the scene first to douse the fire, but had to retreat from the gunman upon arrival, as per the police official.
“The suspect began to fire. I don’t know if he was firing in their direction, but they had to take cover,” Finner said.
According to him, the suspect was a 40-year-old African American man who was dressed in all black.
One person was killed and six others sustained injuries in an apparent targeted shooting in the US state of Maryland last week.
Police said one victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead by medical personnel. All of the victims are adult males.
Witnesses reported that the suspect vehicle was a 4-door silver Lexus sedan.
“On 24 August, 2022, at approximately 12:24 p.m., Northwest District officers were summoned to the intersection of Shirley Avenue and Park Heights Avenue to investigate a reported shooting,” the Baltimore police said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Prior to that, a man set his car on fire and drove into a US Capitol barricade late at night, according to Fox News.
The unidentified man reportedly fired a weapon indiscriminately and then shot himself.