Shoe purchase at center of N. Houston double shooting that killed 19- and 20-year-old, HPD says
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The transaction that took place when someone shot two young men just before the weekend was a shoe purchase, investigators said on Monday.
The Houston Police Department released that key detail officers learned from witnesses shortly after two friends died at an apartment complex parking lot in the 8200 block of Fulton Street on Friday evening in the city's Northside/Northline neighborhood.
Police identified the victims as 20-year-old Khoi Tran and 19-year-old Gavin Tran.
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According to Lt. Larry Crowson, officers located the victims' bodies at the scene. They later learned preliminarily that the transaction unfolded as three unknown Black men were seen in a gray or silver Dodge SUV. Crowson added that one of the men got out of the vehicle, produced a rifle, and opened fire.
Police didn't say whether robbery was behind the killing or if the shoe buy was a front for the shooting.
ORIGINAL STORY: Shooter armed with rifle kills 2 men during a 'transaction,' HPD says
The suspect descriptions were still not determined.
Police urge anyone with information on the case to contact HPD's Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously with Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Recent shootings tied to shoes
Houston, unfortunately, is not new to acts of violence involving sneakers, with some of them leading to deaths.
For example, two people were targeted during what deputies described as a private shoe sale in a northeast Harris County park last December.
Months earlier, in an unrelated May 2022 incident, a 14-year-old was shot when police say a group of people ganged up on him over the shoes he was wearing.
One of the highest-profile murder trials in the city in the last decade involved 22-year-old Joshua Woods, who prosecutors say was targeted over Air Jordans he bought at the Willowbrook Mall in 2012.
Four men received prison time, including two for life in prison, for the Woods robbery and murder.
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