Nine injured in Houston mall shooting, suspect shot: police

HOUSTON — A shooting at a mall in Houston, Texas left six people wounded on Monday (Sept 26), and a suspect was shot by police, police said.

Houston police later confirmed that the suspect has been shot dead. 

Police said via Twitter on Monday that an “active shooter at Weslayan & Bissonnet has been shot by our officers” and that there are no reports of other suspects “at this time.”

They added that nine were injured from the shooting incident. Six were sent to hospitals while three were treated and released near the scene of the incident. One person was in critical condition and another in serious condition, police said.

Police did not disclose what kind of gun was used.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told local television station KTRK that it appeared the motivation for the shooting may have been the lawyer's relationship with his firm, which "went awry."

The police chief said there were no indications of any others involved, and that investigators were checking the man's social media accounts to help in determining his motive.

Some witnesses have described the gunman firing dozens of shots at cars passing through the neighbourhood before he was engaged by police. 

Broken glass from shattered car windows littered a parking lot in an upscale shopping center near where the suspect fired 20 to 30 shots in the wealthy neighborhood of West University Place. All of the victims were inside their vehicles during the morning commute when they were shot.

An unidentified woman, standing next to a car with two bullet holes in the windshield, told a local television station she heard "the bullets literally whiz by my window."

"The shots were coming almost non-stop. Four, five, six at a time," said Mr Jaime Zamora, a cameraman for Houston television station KTRK who witnessed some of the shooting. He estimated that between 30 and 50 shots were fired.

Live video streams showed numerous police cars and ambulances in the area. There were also a few vehicles seen with bullet holes. 

Meanwhile, Houston Fire Department spokesman Jay Evans told NBC News that more than 15 emergency medical services crew members were dispatched about 6.30am (7.30pm Singapore time) after reports of shots fired at a Petco store in in the southwest of the city.

Mr Richard Mann of the Houston fire Department added that the injuries were of varying gravity with some suffering gunshot wounds and others cut by broken glass.

The shooting comes days after a shooting at a Washington state mall that left five people dead. On Sept 17, a 20-year-old man stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. AGENCIES