HOUSTON – After Monday morning’s shooting that wounded nine people in southwest Houston, police spent hours searching a vehicle they said belonged to the gunman, who on Tuesday was identified by police as attorney Nathan DeSai..
KPRC 2 has confirmed the owner of that vehicle is 46-year-old DeSai.
Interim Houston Police Chief Martha Montalvo said DeSai was a lawyer who was having issues with his law firm.
Ken McDaniel, DeSai's law partner for 12 years, said that they decided to go their separate ways in February for economic reasons. He said he hasn't spoken to DeSai since then.
"If he did do something like this, it's out of character. It's shocking and upsetting," McDaniel said. "I don't think you would expect anybody to go do anything like this... if Nathan did do this."
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While McDaniel said they were never close, he praised his former partner's work at a small office suite near the I-10 Katy Freeway near Kirkwood.
"He was a damn good lawyer. I was proud to be his partner," McDaniel said.
DeSai's father, Prakash, said his son was in his own practice, but it was not doing well.
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"He was worried ... because his law practice was not running good, so he (was) worried about this all the time," Prakash DeSai said.
He said he last saw DeSai on Sunday, in what was a short visit.
"He said he right now is busy and he has to go. So he left. We didn't have too much of a conversation. He talked to my wife because I was inside," Prakash DeSai said.
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His 80-year-old father said DeSai owned guns to protect himself against his own clients.
"He deals with funny people and criminally-minded people and you don't know if something goes wrong, if they're going to be upset at you," his father said.
DeSai owns a condo at the Oaks of Weslayan on Law Street, KPRC2 has confirmed. That is the same street on which the gunman’s vehicle was found.
According to the Texas State Bar, DeSai specializes in business, family and criminal law.