Odessa and Midland police and sheriff’s deputies surround the area behind Cinergy in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, after reports of shootings.
Tim Fischer | Midland Daily News via AP
At least five people are dead and 21 injured in a shooting spree in the area of Odessa and Midland, Texas, according to police.
The gunman was shot and killed in Odessa. There is no longer an active shooter situation, police said.
Three law enforcement officers were shot. Information was not given on their condition.
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was shot after trying to stop a gold Honda at 3:17 p.m. CT, Odessa Chief of Police Michael Gerke told reporters.
The gunman, identified as a white male in his mid-30s, continued west to Odessa and shot one person on Interstate 20, which connects Odessa and Midland. The two cities are just 20 miles apart.
He drove to 42nd St. in Odessa, shooting multiple victims.
At some point, the gunman stole a mail truck and continued shooting randomly. At Cinergy, a local movie theater, the gunman was killed by police after exchanging gunfire.
Gerke said the gunman’s motive was unknown.
The Midland Police Department said earlier in a Facebook post there may be two shooters in two separate vehicles. Gerke said law enforcement confirmed the driver of the gold Honda and the mail truck were the same person.
“The issue with that was that you had the original vehicle and then you had the mail truck,” Gerke said. “At one point we didn’t know that that was the same person, but that is confirmed now. Same person.”
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin asked students to stay indoors. The campus lockdown was lifted after officials said there was no active shooter threat.
The shootings come a month after a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso, about 300 miles away.
President Donald Trump said he was briefed by Attorney General William Barr about the shootings. The FBI is “fully engaged,” he said.
