Shooting near downtown Houston leaves three people dead

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say five people, including a 10-year-old boy, were shot when a July 4th party turned into a violent argument west of downtown Monday night. Three of the shooting victims died.

The shooting was reported just after 10pm at the corner of Wilson and Robin.

Three people are dead and two others were injured in a shooting near downtown. Jeff Ehling reports

The Houston police department says a large crowd of local residents were outside shooting fireworks on the 1300 block of Robin. That's when three to four black male suspects began shooting at one of the adult male victims.

Witnesses say this may have started as an ongoing feud between two different groups of people from 3rd Ward.

Five people were struck and the male suspects fled.

Among the five who were shot, was a 10-year-old boy. He was shot in abdomen and transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

The identities of the deceased men, ages 26, 29 and 29, are pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

One of the murdered victims was identified to abc13 as Charles Jackson.

His family says he was a good man and not involved in violence in any way. They say he was simply trying to light off fireworks when the shooting started and that he had nothing to do with the suspect or the other victims who died.

"It was just a shock because Charles, his nickname is Screwball, never was a bad person. He always took care of his kids and respected people, showed love, worked at the family business and it was a big, big, big shock to us and a loss," says Rosaland Jackson, Charles' Great Aunt.

A fourth male, 37, was transported to an area hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Houston police are still investigating to figure out if this was a random drive-by shooting or if the victims knew the person who gunned down the party goers.

"We are not getting information that it was a fight, we just know that someone up pulled and the shooting started. We don't know if the there was an altercation prior to that it if anyone was targeted specifically," says Sgt. Fontenout with HPD.

Anyone with information on identities of the suspects in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.