One Houstonians The evicted man set fire to the building to lure the tenants outside before shooting dead three of them.
The man, who has not been immediately identified but has been described as unlucky with medical and financial problems, was fatally shot by police officers responding in the morning attack. Soon.
Sheriff Troy Finner told Related press that authorities arrived at the apartment building around 1 a.m. Sunday in southwest Houston.
Gunman in All Black, Armed with a handgun before opening fire on fleeing tenants
Finner added that the gunman, who is believed to be dressed in black and armed with a handgun, opened fire as other tenants fled their home, with two dead at the scene and another at hospital soon after.
Two other people were injured and taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
JUST IN: A man who was evicted from an apartment building in Houston shot five other tenants, killing three of them, Sunday morning after setting the house on fire to lure them out, police said. know. Officers shot and killed the gunman. #Houston pic.twitter.com/IcmWV1gBDa
– BNN Newsroom (@BNNBreaking) August 28, 2022
Michael James told the local TV station KPRC that he was on his way home from work when he was shot in the back.
“I saw the house on fire and I saw there was fire, so I called 911,” James said. “I didn’t make it through, so I turned around and went back into the driveway. And suddenly, boom. “
The suspect then began shooting at firefighters as they tried to put out the fire, forcing them to hide until officers located and shot the gunman who was lying on his stomach, according to Finner. .
No police or firefighters were injured in Sunday morning’s deadly attack.
“I saw things that I hadn’t seen before in 32 years, and it happened time and time again,” Finner said. “We just ask the community to come together.”
Houston mass shooting: arson suspect and 3 others killed after suspect set fire to multiple homes, police say https://t.co/qBAIt3b4cC # 10TV pic.twitter.com/TXJTiMEBGi
– 10TV (@ 10TV) August 28, 2022
Robin Ahrens, a neighbor, told Houston Chronicle that he thought he heard fireworks while getting ready for work, and didn’t notice it at first.
“I’m just lucky I didn’t go out because maybe he was going to shoot me too,” he told the newspaper.
The shooter is described as an unemployed Houston man with colon cancer who recently discovered his deportation
Ahrens said the gunman had colon cancer, was unemployed and had to pay rent when he was recently told he was being evicted.
“Something just happened to him in the last few days, really hard that he didn’t care,” Ahrens said of the gunman.
GSN- A man dressed in black set fire to a multi-family home in Houston early Sunday morning, then opened fire on people as they ran outside, according to police. pic.twitter.com/FkM5D8ZWog
– HJ (Hank) Ellison (@hjtherealj) August 29, 2022
At a The White House At the Summit on Building Long-Term Deportation Reforms earlier this month, President Joe Biden noted the need for an all-out effort to build lasting reform as funds for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) begins to deplete.
Biden administration calls for efforts to implement deportation programs, cutting deportation rates in half between 2019 and 2022
Texas, the site of Sunday’s attack, is one of a number of states that have recently introduced statewide eviction diversion programs. These efforts have halved the eviction rate, from nearly 30% in 2019 to 14% in 2022.
However, more than 900,000 rental households are still evicted each year, according to New America.
Renters enjoyed respite during the coronavirus pandemic, when the federal government issued an eviction moratorium, but as of July 2022, there are no longer any statewide eviction moratoriums in place. use.
Last week, Shade room reports that the Supreme Court has blocked a federal embargo aimed at preventing evictions across the country during the pandemic, giving landlords the right to continue the eviction process despite tenants affected by the pandemic.
