3 juveniles injured in shooting possibly tied to gang activity

Houston police are searching for the gunmen responsible for a shooting outside a southwestside shopping center on Wednesday that sent three young people to the hospital.

The victims, an 11-yearold girl and two boys, believed to be about 15 or 16, were shot about 4 p.m. in the 5800 block of Renwick. They were taken to area hospitals with what Houston police said were nonlife-threatening injuries. The girl was shot in the arm while the boys were shot in the foot and the leg.

The motive remains under investigation, but an officer identified the boys as gang members. Police have not been able to locate anyone who saw what happened.

“There were people who heard gunshots,” said John Cannon, a Houston police spokesman. “They (the investigators) believe more than one suspect fired shots.”

Police were checking whether any security cameras in the vicinity might have captured the shooting.

The shopping center is adjacent to an apartment complex. The apartments are surrounded by a fence, but there is easy access through a gate.

A teenager who identified himself only as “Luis” said he knows all three shooting victims and spoke to them.

He said they were shot on the grounds of the apartment complex, then helped each other get through the gate and onto the shopping center parking lot, where they fell. He was later questioned by HPD investigators.

A Houston police officer at the scene said the boys were “documented” members of the MS-13 street gang.

The girl has no known gang involvement, the HPD officer said, and was simply with them when the attackers drove up and opened fire.

MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha is a transnational criminal gang with most of its members coming from Central America. The gang has a reputation for extreme violence.

Later Wedneday, police also were searching for the gunman in another shooting.

A man was shot around 8:20 p.m. inside his apartment in the 9400 block of Briar Forest Drive. His roommate ran downstairs when she heard gunshots fired, according to police.

Her roommate told her that he had been robbed. The gunman fled the apartment complex to an unknown location.

The male shooting victim, who was shot in the stomach, is expected to survive, police said.

Anyone with information about either shooting is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.