Texas shooter fired at random shoppers and drivers at shopping centers, seven dead in massacre
Vice President Pence comments on deadly Texas shooting and Hurricane Dorian.
It all began with a traffic stop for failing to use a left hand turn signal.
Officials say a man in his mid-thirties then opened fire, shooting through the rear window of his car at the state troopers conducting the stop.
The driver then unleashed a flurry of violence from Midland to Odessa, Texas – where police eventually killed him at the Cinergy Movie Theater parking lot.
CORRECTS THE NAME OF THE SOURCE TO THE MIDLAND REPORTER-TELEGRAM - Odessa and Midland police and sheriff's deputies surround the area behind Cinergy movie theater in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, after reports of gunfire. Police said there are "multiple gunshot victims" in West Texas after reports of gunfire on Saturday in the area of Midland and Odessa. (Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram via AP)
CORRECTS THE NAME OF THE SOURCE TO THE MIDLAND REPORTER-TELEGRAM - Odessa and Midland police and sheriff's deputies surround the area behind Cinergy in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, after reports of shootings. Police said there are "multiple gunshot victims" in West Texas after reports of gunfire on Saturday in the area of Midland and Odessa. (Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Dustin Fawcett, police officers guard on a street in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. Police said there are "multiple gunshot victims" in West Texas after reports of two suspects opening fire on Saturday in the area of Midland and Odessa. (Dustin Fawcett via AP)
An Odessa police officer escort bystanders away from an area investigated for a shooting in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, following a deadly shooting. Several people were dead after a gunman who hijacked a postal service vehicle in West Texas shot more than 20 people, authorities said Saturday. The gunman was killed and a few law enforcement officers were among the injured. (Jacy Lewis/Reporter-Telegram via AP)
CORRECTS THE NAME OF THE SOURCE TO THE MIDLAND REPORTER-TELEGRAM - Odessa and Midland police and sheriff's deputies surround a white van in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, after reports of gunfire. Police said there are "multiple gunshot victims" in West Texas after reports of gunfire on Saturday in the area of Midland and Odessa. (Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram via AP)
Details are still limited as to where many of the two dozen people were injured, and why seven people lost their lives in the terror unleashed in the small communities 300 miles west of Dallas.
Police have confirmed one of the injured was a 17-month-old baby, who was rushed to another hospital for help. Three of the officers working to stop the gunman were also injured.
The New York Times, speaking to a 20-year-old worker at a restaurant near one of the shooting scenes, described the chaos that erupted at Twin Peaks.
“People were screaming, flipping chairs, cropping plates,” Junior Bejarano explained to The NYT.
In the parking lot, Bejarano saw a toddler, still strapped in her car seat covered in blood.
“It was horrible to see something like that.”
Cars along the route the shooter took were covered in bullet holes.
People at Music City Mall, including broadcasters at the local TV station who operate out of the shopping center, were ordered to leave the studio while reporting live on the chaos.
As they fled the mall, KOSA-TV journalists described items discarded by shoppers fleeing the mall.
The mass killing comes only a few weeks after two back-to-back shootings in nearby El Paso and Dayton, Ohio – both at shopping and dining areas.