For Houston residents, the increase in the number of recent shootings is unsettling. In one night alone this week, four separate shootings occurred in the city, leaving a trail of dead and wounded in their wake. Shortly after 4am on April 7, a 22 year old man was shot and killed in the parking lot of a strip mall while attending a birthday party at a local club. Later that night, three people were shot after suspects in an SUV chased two people walking nearby. The suspects got out of the vehicle and began firing. A bystander was caught in the crossfire. One victim died at the scene. Later, a robbery at a tattoo parlor on the city's northwest side left the parlor owner dead. Finally, three people were shot, one of them fatally, when passing vehicles began exchanging gunfire on the Gulf Freeway in the wee hours of the morning.
The bloodbath continues days after the quadruple shooting spree. On April 8, police responding to an altercation at Alsace and LaSalette found a man who had been shot in the stomach by a female during the altercation. That same day a group of armed men dressed as police officers forced their way into a residence in the 11600 block of Lennington and began exchanging gunfire with the residents of the home. Luckily, no one was injured in the home invasion.
No motive has been established for these crimes, but - given the dire straits people are finding themselves in these days due to the economy, robbery is a feasible possibility. People are struggling to make ends meet and some are willing to do so by any means necessary. This has instilled a fear in Houston residents and rightly so. Considering the seemingly randomness at which these crimes occurred, one can’t help, but wonder who’s next.
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