4 dead and 2 injured after shooter set fire to residential building

At least four are dead and two are injured after a shooter set fire to a building and waited for residents to come out before opening fire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Sunday morning.

The suspect, a man about 40-years-old, set fire to a “multiple-room renting facility” at 8020 Dunlap Street that he was a long-time resident of and waited for others to come out before opening fire, according to Finner.

Police and the Houston Fire Department received multiple shooting and fire calls at around 1:07am on Sunday. When the fire department arrived, the suspect began discharging his shotgun, according to Finner.

“I don’t know if he was firing in their direction but they had to take cover,” Finner said.

An officer then arrived on the scene and engaged in gunfire with the suspect. The officer, a seven-year veteran, has been put on administrative leave as per department policy.

The suspect is one of the four killed in the shooting. The other victims are all men believed to also be residents of the facility. They range in age from 40 upwards. There were at least five or six other residents at the facility who weren’t injured as a result of the incident, according to Finner.

It is believed at this time that this was a one-suspect shooting, and one officer discharged his weapon.

While the shooting is still under investigation, Finner said the suspect was recently served with an eviction notice.

“I don’t like to speak prematurely too much but we’re told here at the scene, that the suspect was recently notified of an eviction,” he said. “He’s been a long time resident here and that may have been a trigger point for him, I don’t know. But that’s part of the investigation.”

Speaking of the incident, Finner asked the community to “come together.”

“This is just sad what’s going on in our nation,” he said. “I’ve seen things that I haven’t seen before in 32 years and it’s happened time and time again. And people ask the police chief and police leaders why. We don’t even know why right now. But we just ask that the community come together.”