A manhunt is underway after five people, including an 8-year-old, were fatally shot in a Texas home, local authorities said on Saturday.
Police were called to a home in Cleveland, Texas, to investigate a report of harassment found a horrific scene: five people dead, including an 8-year-old and two women who shielded two surviving youngsters with their own bodies, according to San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers. Cleveland is about an hour northeast of Houston.
Now cops are hunting for the suspect: a drunken neighbor armed with an AR-15 who allegedly went berserk when the victims asked him to stop shooting in his yard.
“Multiple people were shot around the residence,” Capers told reporters early Saturday morning. “Two women in a bedroom were found laying over two young children who survived,” he added, according to CNN Houston affiliate KHOU.
There were 10 people inside the home at the time of the shooting. The victims’ identities are unknown and range in age from 8 years old to about 40, according to the sheriff.
The sheriff said he believes the victims are from Honduras.
Capers said authorities have a copy of the suspect’s consulate card and are looking for him, adding that he believes the gunman is no longer in the area.
There have been at least 174 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
