Houston Shooting Sees One Child and Two Adults Killed, Suspect at Large

One child and two adults have been killed in a shooting in Houston.

Another child has been taken to hospital with a gunshot wound following the incident, which occurred late on Wednesday evening.

The shooting occurred inside the 12100 block of Fondren Road, near the intersection with West Airport Boulevard in Houston, Texas, at around 10:34 p.m., according to the Houston Police Department.

In a media briefing in the early hours of Thursday morning, Houston police Assistant Chief Patty Cantu said that the child, a girl between 5 to 7 years old, and two adults, one male and one female, were found dead at the scene.

The other child, said to be a girl around the age of 10, was suffering from a gunshot wound and had been transported to a local hospital. Cantu confirmed that the injured child is in a stable condition and receiving treatment at the medical facility.

"This is a very, very, tragic scene," Cantu said. "We are sending out prayers to the family. This was a very difficult scene for not only us the officers, but the family as well, so we are sending out prayers."

She said that the department is working on piecing together what happened during the shooting, but confirmed that the suspect is "still at large" as they do not yet have one identified.

There is no sign of forced entry and Cantu said that it was "probably not a home invasion," as the department believes that the shooter was known to the victims.

The department is currently reviewing surveillance footage from the apartment complex to see if it can help them with the investigation.

Cantu said that the department would appreciate any information about the shooting that could help them find the suspect as the investigation continues.

The police department also confirmed in the early hours of Thursday morning that two other separate shootings had taken place overnight in the city.

One man was found fatally shot sitting inside of a vehicle at 7300 Cullen, while another was shot multiple times at 8700 N US 59 following a crash. The department has not released any other information on the shootings.

Houston has seen an increase in homicides in 2021 compared to 2020 figures.

According to Click2Houston, there were more than 200 homicides in the city in June. The outlet reported last week that figures showed an increase of 42 percent in homicides in 2021 compared to 2020 so far.

Newsweek has contacted the Houston Police Department for further comment.

Update 07/01/2021, 3:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with further context throughout.

Update 07/01/2021, 4:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with further context throughout.