Two teenagers were fatally shot and four others were wounded — one critically — after gunfire broke out at a pop-up party in Houston, Texas, police said Sunday.
Officers responded about 11:20 p.m. Saturday to reports of gunshots at a gathering of mostly teens in an empty strip mall business dubbed “The Curfew Club,” Assistant Chief Luis Menendez-Sierra said at a Sunday morning briefing.
“As they arrived they saw a very hectic scene, and a large crowd of people running out of a makeshift club,” Menendez-Sierra said, with “several people injured, and people running all over the place.”
A 16-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 14-year-old girl died later at a hospital; their identities were not immediately released.
Four other teen victims, all girls, were hospitalized, with a 13-year-old in critical condition, an 18-year-old in serious condition, and a 17- and 19-year-old both in stable condition, police said in a media release. At least one of the wounded was driven to the hospital in a private vehicle, police said.
Witnesses described a tall, thin, dark-skinned male dressed all in black, including a black hoodie and mask, “shooting a pistol into a crowd of people in the venue,” homicide detectives said in the police statement.
Menendez-Sierra asked that witnesses of the chaos contact police, and promised to devote all available resources to finding out “what happened here… and who did this so we can bring them to justice.”
City officials cautioned about the potential dangers of pop-up parties.
“These makeshift, unsanctioned pop-up parties can quickly lead to chaos and violence,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez posted on X. “These parties quickly come together via social media. Pop-up parties raise public safety concerns and teens need to stay away for their own safety.”
“It’s a tragedy. I feel for the families,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire at a media briefing, according to KPRC-TV. “We ought to keep them in our prayers. We lost some young people tonight that was very preventable, if they didn’t come to locations such as this.”