Gunman sparks Halloween horror
A gunman opened fire at an offcampus college party in Texas, leaving two people dead and 12 others injured before he escaped in the ensuing chaos, authorities said yesterday.
Authorities believe the shooter may have been targeting just one person at the party of about 750 people outside Greenville, 24km southwest of a satellite campus of the Texas A&M University System, and that others may have been shot at random, Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said. Authorities were still looking for the suspect, Meeks said, and had not yet identified him.
The shooting took place around midnight Saturday, local time, at what Meeks described as a Halloween and homecoming party for Texas A&M UniversityCommerce, though officials have said it was not a schoolsanctioned event. Authorities believe there was one male shooter who entered the venue through the back door and began firing with a handgun, Meeks said.
Meeks described ‘‘complete chaos’’ after the shots rang out, with hundreds of people fleeing, including the gunman. Authorities initially had said 14 people were injured, but they later revised that figure.
The 12 injured included six people who were trampled or hurt by glass in the melee, according to Sergeant Jeff Haines, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department. Six others were injured by gunfire. Four of them were in critical condition and one was in good condition yesterday afternoon, he said. He did not know the condition of the sixth person.
The two people killed were both males, Meeks said, but he did not know if they were A&MCommerce students. University President and CEO Mark Rudin, in a statement on the school’s Facebook page, said four of its students were treated and released from area hospitals. The students were not identified.
Rudin said there is ‘‘a tremendous amount of misinformation’’ about the shooting and that counselling services are available to all our students at the university’s counselling center.
Authorities do not believe the gunman was wearing a mask or costume, Hunt County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Buddy Oxford.
He added that the shooter was dressed in a blue hoodie.
Authorities have not found the gun that was used, Oxford said.
The shooting came as Texas A&M University-Commerce, about 100km northeast of Dallas, celebrated homecoming weekend. According to its website, it is the second-largest university in the Texas A&M University System.
Word of the violence spread online overnight, with many sharing on social media graphic video purported to show seriously wounded victims lying on the ground as crying and screaming could be heard in the background. –AP