Shootout captured on surveillance camera sends NE Harris Co. apartment residents ducking for cover

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A swarm of gunshots at an apartment complex in northeast Harris County sent neighbors ducking and diving for cover Tuesday evening. The incident left dozens of bullet casings throughout the parking lot and in people's homes.

A neighbor's surveillance video shared with ABC13 captured most of the shootout at 7:09 p.m. at the Autumn Pines Apartments on Greens Road, north of the Eastex Freeway-North Beltway 8 interchange. Dozens of gunshots could be heard for approximately 30 seconds as multiple people fired their guns at one another.

The bullets struck multiple units across several buildings, hitting neighbors' garages, windows, bedrooms, and even one woman's flat-screen TV.

Ida Leffall said she was watching a movie with her son and his girlfriend when they heard the bullets ring out.

"Everybody got on the floor. I dived on the floor and crawled behind the loveseat. We were just hiding because we were so afraid. I was thinking, 'Oh, God. Please let them stop,'" Leffall said. "Bullets don't have a name on it. It can just kill anybody. All I thought about was how our lives could have been gone in the blink of an eye."

People who spoke to ABC13 said they either weren't home or miraculously stood out of the line of fire.

"The bullets went through the glass, and I was just shocked. I didn't know what to think. I just thank God that no one was hurt in the process," Crischelle Taylor said.

The Houston Police Department responded to the scene shortly after. But the only information officers had about the suspects was that four people allegedly fled the area in a white car.

Neighbors said this is not the first shooting that has happened at the apartment complex in the last couple of years. HPD has not responded to inquiries about the number of calls for service at the property.

According to ABC13's Neighborhood Safety Tracker, there were five homicides in 2022 and one in 2023 for the area.

Some residents said they are considering breaking their leases after living at Autumn Pines for years because they no longer feel safe there.

"I hope things change. I hope these youngsters stop shooting and realize that it could be your mother, your sister," one neighbor, who didn't want to share her name, said.

Wilhoit Properties, the managing company for the apartment complex, didn't return requests for comment.

For more on this story, follow Rosie Nguyen on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.