It happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of an apartment complex at Ranchester and Bellwood.
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According to Houston police, it started with five people in parking lot who got into a confrontation with two men in a gold or brown sedan.
During the argument, the men say they'll come back.
Ten to 15 minutes later, they return and open fire "completely unprovoked," said HPD Commander David Angelo.
Two 18-year-olds, a man and a woman, were killed. A man in his 40s also died.
"You see the bodies slumped over of two teenagers. It's just a senseless loss of life. It angers me. It saddens me that this is happening in this community. Gun violence continues to be on the rise, not only in Houston, but around the country as well, so we need to do a better job as a community, as a society, of getting a handle on this violence. It's completely senseless," Angelo said.
A fourth person was wounded, but survived. The fifth person at the scene was not injured.
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Police are looking for those responsible, but did not have a clear description.
This incident is considered a mass shooting, which is when there are three or more victims.
The Gun Violence Archive reports there have been 20 mass shootings in Houston since February 2020, including Wednesday night's quadruple shooting in southwest Houston.
Sixty-seven people were hurt and 27 people were killed in those 20 mass shootings.
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