BREAKING: At least 5 dead, 21 injured after a shooter targeted shoppers and vehicles at shopping centers in West Texas. The suspect was driving one vehicle and at one point ditched it, taking over a USPS mail truck. The gunman was killed, police say.
Suspect was shooting at moving vehicles, witness says
- What’s happening: A shooter targeted shoppers and vehicles at shopping centers in the areas of Odessa and Midland, Texas.
- Suspect: A suspect was shot and killed in Odessa, according to a Facebook post by the Midland Police Department.
- Victims: At least 5 dead and 21 injured, according to authorities.
Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said the suspect of the Midland-Odessa shootings was a white male in his mid-30s.
The incident began at 3:17 p.m. CDT, when a Department of Public Safety officer attempted to make a traffic stop on a gold Honda, Gerke said. When the vehicle came to a stop, the occupant shot the officer.
The vehicle drove westbound into Odessa, where another person was shot. The suspect continued through Odessa to 42nd Street, where Gerke said “there were multiple victims.”
The suspect abandoned his vehicle and stole a mail truck, Gerke said. There were other victims after that, he added.
The suspect then drove eastbound toward the Cinergy movie theater, where he and officers exchanged fire. The suspect was fatally shot in the exchange, Gerke said.
(CNN)At least five people were killed and 21 people injured Saturday when a gunman in West Texas drove around shooting from his vehicle, authorities said. The shooter was later killed by law enforcement officers, Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference.
Gerke said three law enforcement officers were injured: one from the Department of Public Safety, one officer from the Midland Police Department and one officer from Odessa Police Department.
The suspect was driving one vehicle and at one point ditched that vehicle, taking over a United States Postal Service mail truck, Gerke said.
Officers made contact with the suspect at the Cinergy movie theater between Midland and Odessa. The suspect and officers exchanged gunfire and the suspect was shot and killed, he said.
Gerke said the subject was identified as a white male in his 30’s. His name and motive were not given.
Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told CNN a Department of Public Safety officer pulled over a vehicle on an interstate highway Saturday.
“That’s when he shot the officer and then took off and started shooting randomly,” Morales said. “Everything happened after that.”
Law enforcement officers “trapped him in the parking lot of the Cinergy theater, and that’s when they were able to engage him,” Morales said.
Earlier in the day, authorities said they were looking for two possible shooters in two separate vehicles: a gold, small Toyota truck and a US Postal Service van.
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