HOUSTON – Police are investigating after a man and a woman were killed in a shooting at a mobile home in Texas City, officials said.
The shooting happened at around 8:30 p.m. at the Green Villa Mobile Home Community in the 12000 block of FM 3436, Texas City Police Department Corporal Allen Bjerke said.
Officers said when they arrived at the scene, they found a 39-year-old man, identified by a friend as Willy, dead inside the mobile home. Police said they also found Willy’s 45-year-old girlfriend shot to death in the back room of the mobile home. Police said witnesses told them they saw the gunman take off in a dark-colored pickup truck.
Texas City Police Department Corporal Allen Bjerke said police had identified the gunman and found that he lives in Dickinson. Bjerke said Dickinson police officers spotted him in his truck in the 4900 block of Meadowlark. When the suspect saw police, he sped off and led League City and Dickinson police officers on a chase near Hughes Road and the Gulf Freeway, Bjerke said. Officers said they pursued the vehicle as it fled north on Gulf Freeway.
Police said the vehicle fled through League City, where it struck a retaining wall in the 20000 block of the Gulf Freeway in Webster. The gunman was declared dead at the scene from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Police said the main lanes of the Gulf Freeway north between NASA Road 1 and Bay Area Boulevard were closed much of the night Thursday and into Friday morning.
Investigators gathered evidence from the suspect’s truck, authorities said. Police said the roadway reopened at about 1:30 a.m. on Friday.
Meanwhile, Texas City detectives said they were piecing together what led to the shooting at the mobile home park. The Webster Police Department was investigating the accident scene. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.
Diego Delarosa told KPRC 2 he saw one his best friends take his last breath on Thursday.
“You don’t get a second chance. It’s scary to think that you could take somebody’s life like that out of cold blood and not even care,” Delarosa said.
He said he first knew something was wrong when he heard an argument coming from Willy’s home.
“They were screaming. The guy (suspect) kept saying that Willy owed him money and Willy just kept telling him to get out the house, ‘I need you to leave, I need you to get out right now.’ And the guy said, ‘You know what,’ and that’s when everything happened," Delarosa said.
Delarosa said he ran over to help, then he heard gunshots.
“I was right outside the door. I could hear him fall. I could hear him hit the ground, so I ran around the corner and I hid, so nothing happened to me,” Delarosa said.
After hearing more gunfire, Delarosa said he sprinted back to his home and called 911. He said seconds later the suspect came outside and their eyes met.
“The guy just looked at me as he left the house and that was it. Nothing else happened," Delarosa said. "It was just a lot to think about. It could have been me, it could have been so many more people.”
Delarosa said he went to check on his friend and saw him lying in a pool of blood.
“I just prayed on him, and I kept telling him, “I love you,’ and that I am always going to be here, just to give him peace,” Delarosa said.
Anyone with information about the homicide is asked to contact the Texas City Police Department at 409-948-2525.