Four people are dead after a suspect set a fire to a house in southwest Houston early Sunday morning at 5742 Holly Street near the 8000 block of Dunlap Street.
Police Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department stated in a press briefing that four individuals are dead after a suspect set a fire to a “multiple-room renting facility”.
According to Chief Finner, the calls started to come in at 1:07 a.m. to both the Houston Fire Department (HFD) and the Houston Police Department (HPD). The suspect set fire to several residents and waited for them to come outside before firing upon them. When HFD arrived, he started to open fire, but it is unclear at this time if he was aiming directly at firefighters, but they had to take cover as a precaution.
When HPD arrived, the suspect, an African-American male 40 years old, who was dressed in all black was laying in a prone position on the ground and opened fire at the police officer arriving on the scene. The officer engaged and killed the suspect, who was armed with a shotgun.
As for the victims, Two individuals, white males in their 60’s were found deceased at the scene, and a 3rd male, (African American about 40 years old) was transported to the hospital where he later died. A 4th male was shot in the arm and was taken to the hospital, and is being treated for his injuries. A 5th male, who was running away at the time was treated on the scene for minor injuries and was not transported to the hospital.
The officer who killed the suspect is a 7-year veteran of the Houston Police Department and will be placed on administrative leave, per policy, but Chief Troy Finner said he is “proud of him”.
At this time, there are no reports of injuries to firefighters or officers.
