HOUSTON– Gunfire at two separate birthday parties in the Houston area this weekend resulted in two people being fatally shot and three others injured, officials said.
In the first shooting, gunfire broke out around 1 a.m. Saturday at a party celebrating a woman’s 21st birthday, said Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Ritchie.
About 50 people had attended the party at a home in Jacinto City, about 10 miles east of Houston, when shots were fired following an argument, authorities said.
Two people — Candelario Gonzalez Jr., 22, and Christian Rangel, 30 — were shot and taken to local hospitals, where they were pronounced dead, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
“Unfortunately, two young men were killed at a birthday party because what we’re looking at right now is probably a minor verbal altercation,” Ritchie said.
No arrests have been made.
Gonzalez said investigators are still trying to determine if the two victims were partygoers or if they were passersby who were shot by those at the party.
“We don’t know all the connections. That will be part of our ongoing investigation,” Gonzalez said.
In the second shooting, people at a west Houston apartment complex were having a birthday party Saturday night when a neighbor started complaining to them about the loud music.
The third time the neighbor came by to complain about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, he had a gun, Houston police Lt. T. Riley said.
“There was a struggle over the firearm. The suspect fired the firearm into the air several times,” Riley said. “They were able to wrestle that firearm away from him and closed the door.”
The neighbor returned to his house, got another gun, went back and started shooting through a back door of the apartment, hitting three people, Riley said.
One man was hit in the torso, another man was shot in the leg and a woman was grazed by gunfire. All three were taken to local hospitals in stable condition, Riley said.
Police searched Sunday for several suspects, including the neighbor, who all fled on foot.