HOUSTON – One man was killed and four others were injured in a shootout early Sunday morning outside a club in southeast Houston, according to police.
Authorities responded to a shooting call around 6:30 a.m. Sunday at a club in the 8400 block of the Gulf Freeway.
According to police the suspect, who witnesses say started the shoot-out, is dead, and his getaway driver is on the run.
It was the end of the night and the end of a shift that turned club-goers and employees into witnesses and survivors.
"I've been in the cop car the last five hours," said Nick Blasdel, an employee at Joe's Night Club along the Gulf Freeway near Monroe Road. The club is marked "Club Fiesta" from the outside.
Blasdel says he helped load his friend, the club's bouncer, into an ambulance after he was struck in the leg by one of too many gunshots to count, which Blasdel says sounded "like a shootout at the gun range."
Police say around 6:30 a.m., a fight between two groups of people inside the club spilled outside.
"We can say alcohol, but we don't know at this time," said Investigator K. Winningham with the Houston Police Department early Sunday morning, when asked about a possible motive.
Whatever the reason, Investigator Winningham says someone went to their vehicle, grabbed a pistol and started shooting.
"(It was) the guy that got killed and one of our bouncers fired back at him," said Blasdel.
Police are still looking for the man they believe drove the suspected shooter to nearby East Regional Medical Center with gunshot wounds, where he later died.
While on the scene, Good Samaritans and paramedics helped treat three women wounded by the bullets, along with the club's bouncer.
"He's stable, he's good," said a man named Edward who was on the scene Sunday afternoon. He told KHOU 11 News the bouncer is his friend. Edward says he rushed to the scene as soon as he got the news.
"Since I know first aid, I just applied pressure on his legs so he wouldn't bleed out too much," said Edward.
Police will be checking several surveillance cameras in the parking lot to see if the footage can help them solve this case.
Anyone with information on the incident is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at (713)-222-8477.
