Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 2 SepteMber 2019
Police: 7 killed, 22 injured in West Texas shooting rampage

Ator acted alone and fed- Saturday’s shooting brings
eral investigators believe the number of mass killings
the shooter had no ties to in the U.S. so far this year to
any domestic or interna- 25, matching the number
tional terrorism group, FBI in all of 2018, according to
special agent Christopher The AP/USATODAY/North-
Combs said. Authorities eastern University mass mur-
said those killed were be- der database. The number
tween the ages of 15 and of people killed this year
57 years old but did not has already reached 142,
immediately provide a list surpassing the 140 people
of names. The injured in- who were killed of all last
cluded three law enforce- year. The database tracks
ment officers, as well as a homicides where four or
17-month-old girl who sus- more people are killed, not
tained injuries to her face including the offender.
and chest. Witnesses described gun-
Odessa Police Chief Mi- fire near shopping plazas
chael Gerke refused to say and in busy intersections.
the name of the shooter Dr. Nathaniel Ott was work-
during a televised news ing at an Odessa emer-
conference, saying he gency care center where
wouldn’t give him notori- Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke, center, answers a question concerning Saturday’s shooting he is the medical director
ety, but police later posted during a news conference Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, in Odessa, Texas. From left are Christopher when he heard gunshots.
his name on Facebook. A Combs, FBI Special Agent in Charge, San Antonio, Gerke, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He rushed outside to find a
similar approach has been Associated Press woman in the driver’s seat
taken in some other recent alone. “I have been to too of an SUV bleeding from a
mass shootings. many of these events,” Ab- gunshot wound in the arm.
Gerke said there were still bott said. “Too many Tex- Ott said that as he and a
no answers pointing to a ans are in mourning. Too paramedic were working
motive for the chaotic ram- many Texans have lost their on the woman, the shooter
page, which began Satur- lives. The status quo in Tex- drove back by.
day afternoon when Texas as is unacceptable, and “The shooter drove within
state troopers tried pulling action is needed.” 30 feet of us and drove
over a gold car on Inter- But Abbott, a Republi- up that road,” Ott said
state 20 for failing to signal can, remains noncommit- Sunday, pointing to one
a left turn. tal about imposing any of the streets leading past
Before the vehicle came new gun laws in Texas at a the shopping center where
to a complete stop, the time when Democrats and his facility is located. “The
driver “pointed a rifle to- gun-control groups are de- shooter was driving. It was
ward the rear window of Odessa police officers park their vehicle outside Music City Mall manding restrictions. And insane. He was just every-
his car and fired several in Odessa, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, as they investigate even as Abbott spoke, a where.” Daniel Munoz, 28,
shots” toward the patrol areas following a deadly shooting in the area of Odessa and number of looser gun laws of Odessa, was headed
car stopping him, accord- Midland. that he signed this year to a bar to meet a friend
ing to Texas Department of Associated Press took effect on the first day when he noticed the driver
Public Safety spokeswom- theater if police had not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of September, including of an approaching car was
an Katherine Cesinger. The killed him. said a 17-month-old girl is one that would arm more holding what appeared to
gunshots struck a trooper, “In the midst of a man recovering but faces sur- teachers in Texas schools. be a rifle.q
Cesinger said, after which driving down the highway gery on Monday to remove
the gunman fled and con- shooting at people, local shrapnel from her right
tinued shooting. He fired at law enforcement and state chest. She also suffered inju-
random as he drove in the troopers pursued him and ries to her face. Abbott says
area of Odessa and Mid- stopped him from possi- the mother texted: “Her
land, two cities in the heart bly going into a crowded mouth is pretty bad, but
of Texas oil country more movie theater and having will heal and can be fixed.
than 300 miles (483 kilome- another event of mass vio- Thankfully it doesn’t seem
ters) west of Dallas. At one lence,” Combs said. like her jaw was hit. Just lips,
point, he hijacked a mail Police said Ator had no teeth and tongue...We are
carrier truck, killing the lone outstanding warrants. His thanking God for healing
postal worker inside. arrest in 2001 was around her and appreciate contin-
U.S. Postal Service officials Waco, hundreds of miles ued prayers.”
identified her as Mary Gra- east of Odessa. Online The shooting came at the
nados, 29. court records show he was end of an already violent
Police used a marked SUV charged then with misde- month in Texas, where on
to ram the mail truck out- meanor criminal trespass Aug. 3 a gunman in the
side the Cinergy Movie and evading arrest. He en- border city of El Paso killed
Theater in Odessa, dis- tered guilty pleas in a de- 22 people at a Walmart.
abling the vehicle. The ferred prosecution agree- Sitting beside authorities
gunman then fired at po- ment where the charge in Odessa, Abbott ticked
lice, wounding two officers. was waived after he served off a list of mass shootings
Combs said the gunman 24 months of probation, that have now killed nearly
might have entered the according to records. 70 since 2016 in his state