4 dead and 10 wounded in string of weekend shootings

At least four people were killed and another 10 wounded in a string of weekend gun violence starting late Saturday. Officials said there’s no initial indication the seven shootings were related and no cause to panic.

“It appears to be an anomaly,” said Houston police spokesman Kese Smith. “It’s very tragic for those involved, but not indicative of the overall crime rate.”

As of Friday morning, the city of Houston had seen 202 homicides in 2017, compared to 255 by the same time last year and 228 by this time the year before.

Particularly violent nights are “not unknown,” but “not a usual occurrence,” Smith said.

The weekend shootings span the city, from a homeless encampment to an apartment parking lot to a Westwood street. There were no immediate reports of arrests in any of the slayings, and police did not release information about possible motives in most of the cases.

“We’ve got homicide investigators working the cases and they’re going to run down every lead that they come across,” Smith said.

A midafternoon shooting by two men on bikes in southwest Houston left three people in the hospital. But the nighttime string of crime began around 9 p.m. in the northeast part of the city when three men were hit in a drive-by shooting.

The men were returning to a home near Haywood and Peachtree following a dispute, when a gunman in a raised blue Chevy Silverado pulled up and opened fire with a rifle, according to Houston police.

Three men were wounded in the gunfire, and a fourth was unharmed. The victims — two 17-year-olds and a 48-year-old — were rushed to Ben Taub Hospital where they were in sta-

ble condition, police said.

Just after 9 p.m., a shooter fired off dozens of rounds on a Westwood street, killing one man and wounding another.

It’s not clear what led to the shooting, but neighbors told police the constant fire near Sugar Branch and Forum Park sounded like a machine gun.

Just after midnight, a man in his 50s was found face-down, shot to death at a Midtown homeless encampment under U.S. 59.

“He appears to be shot and killed here,” Houston police Sgt. Michael Casso said at the scene.

Even though there were others at the encampment near Caroline and Barbee, no one admitted to seeing anything amiss.

“A lot of homeless people here, but not a lot of witnesses,” Casso said. “It’s sketchy information right now.”

Nobody heard any screaming or arguing, and no one said they spotted a shooter.

“They just report anywhere from one to three shots,” Casso said.

Around 2:30 a.m., three women were shot sitting in a car in Sunnyside, authorities said. By the time police arrived at Newberry and Rock Rose, one woman was dead. The other two were rushed to the hospital.

Police did not immediately release any information about a shooter or motive.

At about the same time, officers swarmed the Summercrest Apartments after an unknown suspect opened fire in the parking lot of the complex at Hollister and Pitner.

The shooter hit one man multiple times, but the victim was rushed to the hospital and is expected to survive.

About an hour later and just over 6 miles away, officers driving along the 4500 block of Yale spotted an idling Chevy with the door hanging open, parked outside a beauty salon.

When they pulled in to investigate, police found a man in his late 30s slumped over the wheel with a gunshot wound to the head.

“We believe it was a robbery but we don’t know if they took anything or not,” Christopher Elder, a Houston police investigator, told reporters.

A witness reported hearing a gunshot sometime after 2 a.m., followed by the sound of a car speeding away.

Anyone with information in any of the cases can call Crime Stoppers at 713222-TIPS.