A shooting on Friday in Midland, Texas, has killed one person and sent a further nine to the hospital with injuries, according to the city’s authorities.
The possible suspect was in a standoff with officers for about two hours but later on Friday afternoon was reported deceased, police and the city’s mayor said.
Law enforcement officers had rushed to a street in what was described as an industrial area of the city, which lies about 300 miles (500km) west of Forth Worth and Dallas, after receiving reports of shots fired shortly after 8am local time, according to local media reports.
The shooter was identified by authorities as Victor Mata Villarreal, 45, who resided in Odessa. Villarreal had been wanted for attempted capital murder of a peace officer after allegedly firing multiple shots at an Midland police officer during a vehicle pursuit two days earlier, on Wednesday.
The shooting was confirmed on Friday morning by Midland’s mayor, Lori Blong. The injured were being treated at the Midland Memorial hospital, where the emergency department is reportedly in lockdown as a security precaution.
Five victims had been discharged from the hospital as of Friday afternoon, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.
The FBI director, Kash Patel, said in a statement on social media that bureau agents were on scene. The FBI had also deployed special agents and victim services personnel to assist Midland police at the scene of the shooting.
The incident ended near a veterinary hospital. It sounded as though at least 40 shots were fired, said Andrea Mendias, who works at an auto body shop near that hospital. Video from Mendias showed officers pouring out of the back of an armored police vehicle and police deploying robots in the area.
Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, posted a statement about the shooting, saying he and his wife, Cecilia, were “deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence in Midland”.
“We are praying for the victims, their families and the entire community. I have been briefed on the matter and commend the swift response from the Midland police department … and all assisting law enforcement agencies,” he added.
Blong said the situation was still evolving and that officers were containing it. The Midland Memorial hospital said four people were in the operating room and five others were in stable condition.
The city of about 140,000 residents sits in the heart of the state’s oil region and was near the site of a deadly shooting rampage just six years earlier.
In that shooting, a gunman who had been fired from his oil services job killed seven people and wounded two dozen others while firing at random as he drove around the Odessa and Midland areas.
Friday’s case in Midland was one of more than 180 mass shootings in the US for the year so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The non-partisan archive classifies a mass shooting as a case in which four or more victims are shot or killed.
The US has high rates of mass shootings annually, prompting many to call on the federal government to implement more substantial gun control. But Congress has not implemented such gun control over the years.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
