On Saturday evening, a gunman—described by police as a white male in his 30s—shot and killed at least seven people and injured 24 others in West Texas. The suspected gunman, who was shot by police, makes the death count eight so far.
Among those injured is a 17-month-old baby who, according to her mother, was shot in the chest and face.
Less than 300 miles from El Paso, and about four weeks after a white supremacist conducted a massacre that killed 22 and injured 24 others in a Texas Walmart, the shooter reportedly shot at police during a routine traffic stop in Midland, Texas before abandoning his vehicle, and then continuing his shooting spree in a stolen mail truck. This chaos originally led people to believe there were at least two shooters.
To go into more detail on the reported chain of events…
Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke says that the shooting began around 3:17 p.m. local time when a Texas Department of Public Safety officer pulled over the shooter (who was then in a gold Honda) for a traffic stop. That’s when the first of three police officer was shot by the driver. From there, the shooter stole a postal truck and continued shooting at people (seemingly at random) as he headed into Odessa.
To give you an idea, Odessa was about 20 miles away. From there, police killed him in a shootout in the parking lot of a movie theater.
Authorities have not yet released the shooter’s name. They also have not confirmed a motive.
People do have theories on the logistics, however. When speaking to BuzzFeed News, Midland Mayor Jerry Morales noted, "As he was driving down the interstate he was shooting at random and I assume what was causing a lot of the injuries was people trying to avoid firepower. It was very mobile, everything was on the go."
Authorities have not yet released identifying details on those injured or killed. Some survivors have begun giving interviews which provide more context. Mike Barrett told CNN in an interview that his friend had been shot and was hospitalized.
"He was on the way home, him and his wife ... he got shot," Barrett told
CNN. "It went through the door of the car and shot him right in his side ... his wife was just covered in blood."
Shauna Saxton, another witness, told TV station KOSA that she had been driving with her husband and grandson in Odessa when she heard gunshots.
“I looked over my shoulder to the left and the gold car pulled up and the man was there and he had a very large gun and it was pointing at me,” she told KOSA. “I started honking my horn. I started swerving and we got a little ahead of him and then for whatever reason the cars in front of me kind of parted,” she continued while weeping sobbing.
The Ector County school district (in Odessa) said one of its students was killed.
CBS 7 reports that Mary Granados was the postal service worker and that she was shot and killed after the shooter stole her vehicle.
The 17-month-old is in satisfactory condition at the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, according to hospital conditions.
Of the police, the trooper from the Department of Public Safety is in serious condition. Two additional officers, from Midland and Odessa police departments respectively, are in stable condition.
CBS News reports that, according to an FBI spokesperson, six people have been killed (not including the suspect) and 24 have been wounded. Obviously, those numbers may change depending on people’s health in coming days.
Many videos from witnesses have been circulating social media. As you might imagine, they’re incredibly disturbing. For the sake of documentation, one is below, meshed into broader video coverage from CNN.
This video, recorded from a witness in their car, appears to show police arriving on the scene as the gunman was outside of the movie theater:
Today, Sunday, September 1, a host of gun laws take place in Texas. They were scheduled to go into effect on September 1 already, but feel particularly haunting now. Why? Because the laws, in essence, loosen gun reform measures. Among other details, the law allows for more residents to bring a firearm into public spaces, as well as foster homes, public schools, and even churches.