Houston Gunman Set Fire To Building And Fatally Shot Fleeing Residents, Police Say

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).