Five dead, 21 hurt in Texas massacre

A GUNMAN hijacked a US postal truck and opened fire at random in Texas, shooting dead at least five people and wounding many others before dying in a shootout with police.

Officers identified the suspect as a white man in his mid-30s, but could not yet name him or say why he carried out the attack in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa.

Coming less than a month after a gunman killed 22 people in the Texas city of El Paso, the latest bloodshed immediately ignited fresh calls for gun control to stem the scourge of mass shootings.

“We have at least 21 victims, 21 shooting victims and at least five deceased at this point in time,” Odessa city Police Chief Michael Gerke said. Three police officers were injured, he said.

The Odessa Police Department had earlier reported that a suspect was “driving around Odessa shooting at random people” and “just hijacked a US mail truck”.

Troopers had initially tried to pull over a passenger vehicle on the Interstate 20 highway, but before it stopped, the male driver pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots.

One trooper was wounded, the suspect fled the scene, “and continued shooting innocent people,” the department said.

Some of the shots were fired on the highway linking the cities of Odessa and Midland, where cars were left with bullet holes.

“I just found out a friend of mine passed away,” David Turner, the mayor of Odessa where the incident ended, told Fox News.

Mr Turner said “the coward’’ had pulled up beside the car where the man and his family were waiting at a stop light and opened fire

During his rampage, the suspect switched vehicles by hijacking the postal van, and Chief Gerke said he assumed the postal worker was among the victims.

Police said the suspect died during an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement at a movie theatre in Odessa.

Alex Woods, a witness, told CNN that near the movie theatre: “I could see a bunch of gunfire going off.

“And I could see the officer walking up to the mail van and discharging his weapon into it.”

Picture: ODESSA AMERICAN VIA AP AGONISING WAIT: A man prays outside of the Medical Centre Hospital Emergency room in Odessa, Texas following a shooting that left five people dead and more than 20 injured. Inset: Police cordon off an area where some of the shootings took place.