Two teens were killed and four were injured — including a 13-year-old girl — in a shooting at a makeshift club in Houston, police said Sunday.
Officers arriving at the site of the shooting late Saturday night found “a very hectic scene — a large crowd of people running out of a makeshift club,” Assistant Chief Luis Menendez-Sierra said at a news conference.
Police have not yet identified a suspect and have asked those who were at the event to call police with any information. Police said some witnesses told detectives that they saw a man wearing all black, including a hooded sweatshirt and a black mask covering his face, shoot a pistol into a crowd of people at the venue.
Police said a 16-year-old male died at the scene and a 14-year-old female died at the hospital. Their identifies are pending verification by the medical examiner.
The four who were injured, all females, were hospitalized. The injured 13-year-old was in critical condition, while an 18-year-old was in serious condition and a 17-year-old and 19-year-old were both in stable condition, police said.
Menendez-Sierra said most of those attending the event, which appeared to be organized on social media, were juveniles. He said they were gathered in an empty business.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X that “makeshift, unsanctioned pop-up parties can quickly lead to chaos and violence.”
“Pop-up parties raise public safety concerns and teens need to stay away for their own safety,” he said.
There have been at least 483 mass shootings across the United States in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which counts a mass shooting event as one in which at least four people are shot.
More than 1,300 children have been killed by acts of gun violence in 2024, and another 3,600 children have been injured, the organization found.
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This story corrects the age of the female who was killed to 14, not 16, per Houston police.
Source: independent.co.uk