3 dead, 2 injured in Houston shooting

A shooting happened at an apartment complex in northwest Houston, Texas, on Wednesday leaving three people dead and two others injured.

The dead include two men and one woman. The two injured – a man and a woman – were taken by helicopter to a local hospital, police said.

Police also said that the suspect is on the loose after opening fire inside the Sunbury Downs Apartment complex around 4:30 p.m. central time.

The Washington Post said, citing a witness, that the suspect shot the victims inside the one-bedroom apartment, closed the apartment door and fled. There was no evidence that anyone else was armed and fired any shots, said Thomas Gilliland, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Another shooting in nearby Cypress about 11 days ago left two people dead and almost 20 injured. An 18-year-old man was arrested and charged in that shooting.

Since the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14 which left 20 first-grade school children and six staff members dead, more than 30,000 people have been killed in gun violence across the US, according to slate.com.

A scientific study published by the American Journal of Medicine in September found that the rate of gun violence is positively correlated with gun ownership rates, supporting arguments put forth by many critics who blame the notoriously liberal gun control laws in the US for the high rate of gun violence in the country.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, an average of 32 Americans is murdered with guns every day and 140 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.