9 injured, 1 critically, in Houston mall shooting

Suspected gunman, a ‘disgruntled’ lawyer, shot dead by police; bomb squad inspecting Porsche believed to be shooter’s

By Agencies and ToI Staff 26 September 2016, 5:35 pm

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Screenshot from a shooting scene at a strip mall in Houston, Texas September 26, 2-16. (KPRC)

Nine people were shot and wounded, one critically, in a Houston neighborhood Monday morning by a lawyer who had issues with his law firm, authorities said.

The first report of the shootings began at about 6:30 a.m., Police Chief Martha Montalvo said at a news conference, and when officers arrived, the suspect began firing at them. Police shot the man, whom Montalvo did not identify and who later died at the scene.

Numerous weapons were found at the scene, Montalvo said, and a bomb-squad robot is looking at a Porsche that’s believed to be the shooter’s.

Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is in Cuba for a trade mission, told KTRK-TV that the lawyer was “disgruntled.”

“He was either fired or had a bad relationship with this law firm,” Turner said.

“The investigation is active. It’s very, very early. We want to make sure there is no other gunman. We are checking every angle, I can assure you,” Turner told the TV station.

Screenshot from a shooting scene at a Houston strip mall, September 26, 2016.

Of the nine wounded, one is in critical condition, another is in serious condition and three people were treated and released, Montalvo said.

Some witnesses have described the gunman firing dozens of shots at cars passing through the neighborhood. Several cars with bullet holes and shattered windows were at a nearby strip mall parking lot.

The shooting came days after a shooting last week at a Washington state mall that left five people dead. The suspected shooter, a 20-year-old Turkish immigrant and legal permanent US resident, was captured by police on Saturday night.

On September 17, 20-year-old Dahir Ahmed Adan, a Kenyan-born Somali refugee who arrived in the US as a baby, stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall. He was shot to death by an off-duty police officer. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State, but police said direct evidence suggested he was a lone attacker.

That attack came the same day as bombings in New York and New Jersey, which stoked terror fears less than 50 days before the US presidential election. Police wounded and captured a 28-year-old Afghan-born American in connection with those attacks.