A man who was asked to stop shooting in his yard because of the noise fatally shot at least five people, including an 8-year-old child, late on Friday night at a home north of Houston, the authorities said.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene in Cleveland, Texas, which is about 45 miles northeast of Houston, and a fifth person died at a hospital, the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office said.
Officials said they believed they knew the identity of the gunman, who they said had fled the area and remained at large.
Sheriff Greg Capers of San Jacinto County said his office received a harassment complaint from the neighbors around 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
He said investigators believed the gunman was drinking and firing shots in his yard when the victims walked over to ask him to stop because they had a young baby who was trying to sleep.
“He said, ‘I’ll do what I want to in my front yard,’” Sheriff Capers said of the gunman.
Sheriff Capers told reporters that the gunman was known to “frequently” fire an AR-15 in his front yard. It was unclear what type of firearm the gunman used in the shooting.
When deputies responded, they found multiple gunshot victims, Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters.
A man and three women were killed, he said. The gender of the 8-year-old was not immediately known. Two victims were found by the front door, he said, and another in the living room.
Sheriff Capers added that the bodies of two women were found in a bedroom on top of two children, both of whom survived.
“Everybody that was shot was shot from the neck up, almost execution-style,” Sheriff Capers said.
The victims were all from Honduras, the sheriff said, adding that 10 people were inside the home at the time of the shooting.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the gunman, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Saturday morning.
