Two teens dead, four wounded in shooting at popup party in Houston
Dec 15, 2024
Two teenagers were fatally shot and four others were wounded — one critically — after gunfire broke out at a popup party in Houston, police said Sunday.
Officers responded about 11:20 p.m. on Saturday to reports of gunshots at a gathering, mostly of teens, in an empty strip mall business dubbed “The Curfew Club,” Assistant Police Chief Luis Menendez-Sierra said at a Sunday morning briefing.
“As they arrived, they saw a very hectic scene, and a large crowd of people running out of a makeshift club,” Menendez-Sierra said, with “several people injured, and people running all over the place.”
A 16-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 14-year-old girl died later at a hospital; their identities were not immediately released.
Four other teen victims, all girls, were hospitalized, with a 13-year-old in critical condition, an 18-year-old in serious condition, and a 17- and 19-year-old both in stable condition, police said in a media release. At least one of the wounded was driven to the hospital in a private vehicle, police said.
Witnesses described a tall, thin, dark-skinned male dressed all in black, including a black hoodie and mask, “shooting a pistol into a crowd of people in the venue,” homicide detectives said in the police statement.
Menendez-Sierra asked that witnesses of the chaos contact police, and promised to devote all available resources to finding out “what happened here … and who did this so we can bring them to justice.”
Officials cautioned about the potential dangers of popup parties.
“These makeshift, unsanctioned pop-up parties can quickly lead to chaos and violence,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez posted on X. “These parties quickly come together via social media. Pop-up parties raise public safety concerns and teens need to stay away for their own safety.”
“It’s a tragedy. I feel for the families,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire at a media briefing, according to KPRC-TV. “We ought to keep them in our prayers. We lost some young people tonight that was very preventable, if they didn’t come to locations such as this.”