Houston shooter was Army vet, police say
HOUSTON — Police identified the suspect in Sunday's deadly shooting at a Houston auto shop as Dionisio Garza III, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan.
A motive remains unknown in the deadly spree that left two people dead and six others wounded. Friends of Garza told KHOU-TV Monday that he suffered from PTSD.
Police responding to the shooting killed Garza. They initially identified a second man as a suspect, but on Monday they said Byron Wilson was in fact a good Samaritan trying to help others in the incident at Memorial Auto and Tire in west Houston.
Wilson was critically injured, but police said he is expected to survive.
Two other men and one woman were hospitalized with injuries police said were not believed to be life-threatening. Two officers who were shot were released from the hospital later Sunday.
The Harris County Medical Examiner on Monday identified the other man killed as Eugene Linscomb, a customer at the auto shop.
William McDaniel, owner of Memorial Auto and Tire, said Linscomb was a regular customer.
“(I) couldn’t believe it … just coming to get his car washed and get his head blown off,” McDaniel said.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Paris Nichols saw the suspect walk up to his wife, reach around her, and shoot the customer she was talking to in the head with a handgun.
Then the gunman turned back to his car to grab an assault rifle, the Chronicle reported.
Nichols told the Chronicle the man made anti-homosexual and anti-Semitic remarks and told the couple that he wouldn't shoot them "because y'all are Christians."
On his Facebook page, Garza indicated he graduated from Rancho Cucamonga High School in California and enlisted in the Army in 2009.
Houston police returned to the scene Monday morning to check out a bag they believe may have belonged to Garza.
Officers said the military-style bag contained ammo and documents.
Also on Monday, neighbors came by to pay their respects to the victims. One, who left flowers and a balloon near the spot where Linscomb was killed, called the act of violence “sickening.”
“This man was here getting his car detailed and somebody decided that wasn’t good enough and his life wasn’t worth what it is," Adam Binder said.
The auto shop was riddled with bullet holes. There were more than 185 shots fired, including five at HPD’s helicopter and a number of shots at the vehicles of responding officers, police said.
Johnny Hunnicutt said he came close to being wounded Sunday.
“They (HPD) came by and said the bullet missed my head by four to six inches,” he said. “The police officer came down and drove right into the gunfire. Can you imagine how brave those guys are?”
Houston Police Union President Ray Hunt said an officer who was hit several times in the chest was wearing both a metal breastplate and a bulletproof vest. The second officer was shot in the hand.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Drew Karedes, Marcelino Benito and Lauren Talarico on Twitter: @DrewKaredesKHOU, @MarcelinoKHOU and @KHOULauren
