Community in N. Harris Co. worries about crime after 2nd murder within 2 weeks: 'That scares people'

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- In a matter of two weeks, two men have been killed in separate shootings in north Harris County.

On Monday night, a 20-year-old man was gunned down in the parking lot of a gas station on Ella Boulevard near Barren Springs Road during a drive-by shooting, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Surveillance video shows a white truck passing by, a man dropping behind a car in the Sunoco gas station parking lot, and people scattering.

About a block away, a man was killed in the parking lot of the Villa Springs Apartments on Blue Ash Drive exactly two weeks before.

It is unclear if the two shootings are related.

RELATED: Drive-by shooting in north Harris Co. kills man outside same gas station where 2 men died in January

"That scares people," Gazella Hines, who lives in the area, said. "That could have been somebody else. When the 20-year-old got shot, it could have been anybody. A little kid could have gotten shot."

Hines said groups of people hang out at the convenience stores nearby all day.

Data from the sheriff's office indicates there were 19 aggravated assaults, including domestic situations, from August 2022 to August 2023, in which the two shootings happened.

In total, their statistics show 244 total offenses in that time period.

"It's been one of our busier and more violent districts out here," Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said about the area.

Hines said she told her niece and nephew that they could only go to the nearby convenience stores in the mornings or right after they get out of school to hopefully avoid trouble.

The owner of one of the convenience stores in the area has a stack of dozens of cards from the sheriff's office with case numbers written on them from incidents over the last five years.

He also pointed out bullet holes in his front glass, cabinets, walls, and in a water pipe.

Sheriff Gonzalez said he planned to visit the area Tuesday for National Night Out to continue building trust with the community to solve crimes.

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