Manhunt underway for masked shooting suspect on the loose in woods near Third Ward

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police are searching for a suspect following a deadly shooting near downtown Houston.

Police say the victim was standing on Bremond selling movies, something witnesses tell us he's known around the neighborhood for doing. The gunman popped out of some bushes, shot at him with an assault rifle, and then turned around and calmly walked back. But there's a second scene a block away. That's where the victim ran and collapsed. He died at the hospital.

"I was driving down the street. And the next thing I heard was, 'Pow pow pow,'" said Michelle, a witness.

Another witness named Jenny said, "I told my mom to drive off because we have a baby with us."

The two looked back and saw a man dressed in all black, with a hoodie, his face covered, and wearing gloves.

Michelle recalled, "I looked in my rear view mirror and I saw him running back across the street with the gun. He had like a machine gun."

Around noon, Houston police say a masked man popped out of the bushes in the 3400 block of Bremond and fired three shots, all at a man who's known as N.O. One bullet hit him in the torso. He ran and collapsed on the corner of Sampson and McGowen.

Ezekiel Igwe was in the area visiting his mom when he heard the gunshots. He tried to help the victim.

"He was saying, 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe,'" Igwe said. "I just told him to stay down. He kept moving, so he kept bleeding out. So I kept pressure on the wound."

N.O. was rushed to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died. That gunman ran back through the bushes he'd come through to a dark car that witnesses say was waiting for him the next street over.

It was scary," Jenny said. "He didn't care about who was outside, who he hurt. He was just, like, crazy."

The description of the suspect is very vague. Police say the gunman is a black man, possibly in his 30s. He's about six feet tall. And he was wearing all black: jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie with the hood up. His face was covered. And he wore gloves. He got into a dark-colored car that was waiting on McIlhenny Street. Police don't know whether he was the driver or if someone was waiting for him.