Houston authorities are on the hunt for two suspects implicated in a violent altercation and subsequent gunfire event at a West Houston club this past weekend, an incident that left four injured, according to Click2Houston. The fracas unfolded shortly before midnight Saturday when two men in their 20s, embroiled in a scuffle at the Lincoln Bar, were shown the door by security, including two off-duty Harris County Sheriff's deputies, as reported by ABC13.
After being ejected, the suspects persisted in their quarrel with the deputies about reentry into the establishment. "The fact that they would shoot indiscriminately at a club crowded with people just because they were asked to leave, whether they're intoxicated or whatever shows that they really have very little regard for the safety of the people around them," Assistant Chief Wyatt Martin of the Houston Police Department said in a Click2Houston interview. During the confrontation, one of the men entered a Chevrolet SUV while the other continued to exchange words with staff, and the woman ostensibly told him to join the driver. It was at this juncture that the driver brandished a firearm and directed gunfire towards the security detail, injuring four bystanders.
The deputies, one aged 30 with eight years of experience, and the other 39 with a decade in law enforcement and three years with HCSO, chose not to return fire amidst the chaos, concerned about the potential for collateral damage to the civillian foot traffic. The pair of deputies were unharmed, whereas two of the shooting victims required surgeries but are projected to recover, while two others were treated on site.
Having fled the scene, the Houston Police Department has disseminated descriptions of the two Hispanic men responsible, one wearing a white shirt and blue pants, the other wearing a green shirt and blue pants. They also secured surveillance footage to assist in the manhunt. Assistant Chief Martin expressed, "We really want to get these individuals in custody," implicitly acknowledging the urgency with which this case is being treated. The search for the assailants is ongoing.
