HOUSTON – Several residents of the Rice Military neighborhood awoke to gunfire around 2:30 Tuesday morning near the Caceres Community.
But one Caceres resident, who didn’t wish to be identified, awoke to a bullet blasting through their 3rd-floor bedroom window and into the ceiling above where they slept.
They were uninjured, but still terrified, in shock and in disbelief when reached by phone Tuesday afternoon. They reported the incident to the Houston Police Department.
A neighbor’s surveillance video captured the sound of three gunshots followed by a fourth about 10 seconds later. A dark sedan sped down the street during that span of time, but it’s not clear if it’s connected to the gunfire.
Police told concerned residents on Tuesday that they don’t believe any one person was targeted, blocks from busy bars on Washington Avenue.
Police also asked for any video neighbors have to be shared with them for the investigation.
KPRC 2 spoke to several neighbors who heard the gunshots but weren’t comfortable speaking on camera.
Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin, who represents the neighborhood, shared the following statement:
“As your station just reported on the 4 p.m. broadcast, gun violence and related deaths are out of control here in Texas. Guns are now the number one cause of death for children in America, and when we talk about violent crime, a lot of the time we’re also talking about the involvement of a firearm.
The number of guns on our streets being used irresponsibly is unacceptable. Residents are at wit’s end with bad-actor bars and gun violence.
There are initiatives my office has undertaken with the limited tools available to us, but residents need more. We don’t have zoning (voters turned it down three times) and the state refuses to implement common-sense gun safety reforms. The fact that a resident experienced a bullet flying into their home is simply not ok.”
The case is being investigated as reckless deadly conduct, an HPD spokesperson told KPRC 2.