Death toll in Texas shooting rises to 7

Why suspect opened fire after a traffic stop not yet known

ODESSA, Texas — Authorities said Sunday they still could not explain why a man with an AR-style weapon opened fire during a routine traffic stop in West Texas to begin a terrifying rampage that killed seven people, injured 22 others and ended with officers gunning him down outside a movie theater.

The shooter was identified as Seth Aaron Ator, 36, of Odessa. Online court records show Ator was arrested in 2001 in McLennan County, Texas, and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and evading arrest. He entered guilty pleas in a deferred prosecution agreement where the charge was waived after he served 24 months of probation, according to records.

That past brush with the law would not have prevented Ator from legally purchasing firearms in Texas, although authorities have not said where Ator got his weapon.

Ator acted alone and federal investigators believe he had no ties to any domestic or international terrorism group, FBI special agent Christopher Combs said. Authorities said those killed were between the ages of 15 and 57 but did not immediately provide a list of names. The injured included three law enforcement officers.

Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke refused to say the name of the shooter during a televised news conference, saying he wouldn’t give him notoriety.

The shooting began Saturday afternoon with an interstate traffic stop where gunfire was exchanged with police, setting off a chaotic rampage during which the suspect hijacked a mail carrier truck and fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland, two cities in the heart of Texas oil country more than 300 miles west of Dallas.

U.S. Postal Service officials said Mary Granados, 29, was alone in her mail carrier truck and killed in the attack. A 17-month-old girl who was wounded in the shooting will undergo surgery Monday to remove shrapnel from her right chest but is recovering, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.

Combs said the gunman might have entered the Odessa movie theater where the chase ended if police had not taken him down.

The shooting came at the end of an already violent month in Texas, where on Aug. 3 a gunman in the border city of El Paso killed 22 people at a Walmart. Sitting beside authorities in Odessa, Abbott ticked off a list of mass shootings that have now killed nearly 70 since 2016 in his state alone.

“I have been to too many of these events,” Abbott said. “Too many Texans are in mourning. Too many Texans have lost their lives. The status quo in Texas is unacceptable, and action is needed.”

But Abbott, a Republican, remains noncommittal about imposing any new gun laws in Texas at a time when Democrats and guncontrol groups are demanding restrictions. And even as

Abbott spoke, a number of looser gun laws that he signed this year took effect Sunday, including one that would arm more teachers in Texas schools.

President Donald Trump said his administration is committed to working with Congress to “stop the menace of mass attacks” as he bemoans the “monstrous” and “wicked” rampage by a gunman in West Texas.

He said the goal is to “substantially reduce the violent crime ... in any form, any of its evil forms.”

Trump mentioned “strong measures to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous and deranged individuals” and changes to the mental health system. He said “public safety is our No. 1 priority” but also says he wants to “protect our Second Amendment.”

He spoke during a visit to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an update on Hurricane Dorian.

The terrifying chain of events began when Texas state troopers tried pulling

over a car on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver “pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots” toward the patrol car stopping him. The gunshots struck one of two troopers inside the patrol car, Cesinger said, after which the gunman fled and continued shooting.

Two other police officers were shot before the suspect was killed.

Saturday’s shooting brings the number of mass killings in the U.S. so far this year to 25, matching the number in all of 2018, according to the AP/USATODAY/Northeastern University mass murder database. The number of people killed this year has already reached 142, surpassing the 140 people who were killed of all last year.

The database tracks homicides where four or more people are killed, not including the offender.