A beer-drinking loner opened fire at a Texas bar Sunday night, killing a man and injuring five other people.
Chaos descended at the Alas Locas bar in Cleveland just north of Houston after the killer, who was there alone drinking beer, left around midnight and returned to the bar at 2:30 a.m. armed with a handgun, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office said.
The suspect, who has yet to be identified, fired at least 20 shots, killing a man who was at the bar with his wife and leaving two others in critical condition, LCSO Capt. David Myers told local KTRK.
The suspect quickly left the scene in a white, full-sized van with no side windows, according to footage captured outside the bar.
The van was seen hitting a maroon-colored vehicle as it sped off.
LCSO officers are on the hunt for the suspect, with Rangers from the Texas Department of Public Safety assisting in the investigation.
Myers said the motive for the shooting remains unclear.
The suspect had ordered a beer but “not really conversing with anyone for about an hour prior to the shooting,” Myers noted.
After paying in cash and leaving the bar in silence, the shooter reemerged at the bar’s outdoor patio armed with a .40- or .45-caliber handgun, targeting customers who were drinking and eating on the deck.
The suspect then walked to the front of the bar and opened fire again through the door, the sheriff’s office said.
The wounded victims were described as four men and one woman, with one of them still in critical condition.
The shooting left nearby residents shocked after they heard the sirens and ambulances rushing to the bar, which she described as a friendly establishment where nothing serious has ever happened before.
“It’s nice. It’s not like drunk people everywhere or anything. Just go there, have your little wings and a couple beers and head on back home, but you know, it’s usually pretty busy during the weekends,” local Nina Jaytan told local KHOU 11.
“This is the first time we ever heard that something that bad had happened in this community right here,” she said.
The overnight attack marks the second mass shooting at a bar in the Houston-area this year, after six people were shot at the Latinas Sports Bars on March 23.
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