Andrew Cole, 43, of Deer Park, and Ramiro Sosa, 69, of La Porte, were two of the three people shot while they were riding on I-45 northbound near the Sam Houston statue last Friday in Huntsville. The third victim - a 61-year-old - was flown to the Texas Medical Center, where his condition was not immediately known.
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All three were wearing clothing and insignia that indicated they were part of an outlaw motorcycle gang, police said.
The Huntsville Police Department also acknowledged a potential link between this triple shooting and an April 1 rampage in the Oklahoma City area, where three people were killed involving rival biker gangs.
Eyewitness News first reported on that possibility last Friday in the hours after the Huntsville shooting and an apparently-related double shooting in Montgomery County, where one motorcyclist died.
ORIGINAL STORY: Separate deadly shootings on I-45 are apparently gang-related, authorities say
"Detectives are coordinating and exchanging information with investigators in that area to determine if the two incidents are related," Huntsville police wrote in a release on Monday.
For its part, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said there was nothing new to share Monday, including the identity of the motorcyclist killed in its jurisdiction, due to "the volatility and sensitivity of this investigation."
The sheriff's office added that its homicide and gang detectives are working with local, state, and federal partners.
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The Montgomery County shooting took place almost two hours earlier and 40 miles down from the Huntsville shooting midday Friday.
The OKC link
Steve Cook, an expert in motorcycle gang investigations, said the shootings were a retaliatory attack following a deadly shooting in Oklahoma City earlier in April. The Bandidos were headed to Oklahoma City for the funerals, which created an opportunity for a rival gang, the Homietos, to strike, according to Cook.
"You had an incident in Madisonville, Texas, back in 2022 involving the Homietos shooting at some Bandido members. One of the victims of the homicides in Oklahoma City was actually involved in that shooting in Madisonville. This is just a continuation of that feud," Cook told Eyewitness News last Friday.
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