Police cite link to drugs in I-10 killings

Houston police Friday searched for the gunman who opened fire on a crashed vehicle on Interstate 10 East a day earlier, fatally shooting two occupants during the afternoon rush hour — a chilling double-slaying the police chief said was probably drug-related.

Police said the chain of events was set in motion by an auto collision on the congested freeway east of downtown, prompting initial speculation that road rage was the motive.

A man crashed his vehicle into a silver sedan carrying two men, ages 25 and 33, causing it to spin out in the middle of traffic. The gunman reportedly fired toward the sedan as it rolled down the freeway and came to a stop, then got in front of the sedan and fired several rounds at the victims’ windshield. Both men were killed.

A witness at the scene, who thought the shooter would target him, pulled out a pistol and began firing at the shooter, who then fled in the vehicle, according to police. Traffic was backed up for hours, as police canvassed the scene searching for clues.

The gunman responsible for the shooting had not been captured as of Friday evening.

Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted Friday there was a “high probability the murders are drug-related.” Police said they found narcotics in the victims’ vehicle, and Jodi Silva, a police department spokeswoman, said it’s possible the suspects and victims knew each other.

Police were still searching for the suspect, who might have used an AR-15 rifle. No one had been arrested or formally charged as of Friday, according to HPD spokesman John Cannon. Police said they think the gunman was a Hispanic male, possibly in his early 20s, around 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a thin build. The shooter was last de

scribed as wearing a red shirt, and police think he was driving a newer-model, dark-colored four-door sedan. Authorities do not know the license plate number.

Joseph Schwieterman, a professor at the school for public service at DePaul University in Chicago, said dangers on the road are rising. Houston ranks the worst in terms of roadway fatalities among the 12 largest metro areas in the United States, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis, mostly because of car crashes.

And while vehicle crashes present a real threat to motorists, Schwieterman said there’s a disturbing trend of motorists facing random acts of violence on the road in cities, ranging from deranged snipers to drug chases.

“Urban violence was once limited to streets and alleys, but now, the acts are spilling into places where violence was once rare, including expressways,” Schwieterman said. He added it’s rare for a shootout to occur on a freeway — a place where traffic is typically moving at high speeds — but that “it’s a sad reality that assailants are much more brazen than they were even a few years ago, bringing guns to expressways, places (that) would usually seem shielded from that violence.”

Last month, a 62-year-old woman being driven home from a doctor’s appointment in the Katy area was killed when gunfire struck her as a result of what authorities said was a nearby road rage incident.

Fortunately, he said, many cars nowadays have video dash cams, which record what is happening in front of the vehicle, providing ample footage to police investigators of how violence might have broken out, Schwieterman said.

Police are now asking anyone with tips or witness of the incident to contact the HPD Homicide Division or Crime Stoppers.