4 people, including 12-year-old boy, injured in shootout over move-out at apartments: HPD

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A shootout at a northeast Houston apartment complex injured four people, including a 12-year-old boy, on Thursday night, according to police.

The Houston Police Department said the shooting happened at about 7 p.m. on Coke Street, near the East Freeway and Market in Fifth Ward.

Residents told ABC13 that enough is enough.

"When I heard there was a child involved, it kind of broke my heart because I have a child, and my child doesn't feel safe, I don't feel safe with my child living out here with all this kind of violence," a resident who wished to stay anonymous said.

HPD Lt. Larry Crowson said two groups of people who lived at the apartment complex got into a fight over how one of the other groups was moving out.

"Somebody in one of the groups produced a gun, started shooting. At that point, somebody in the other group -- at least one other person in the other group -- produced a firearm, and there was an exchange of gunfire between the two groups," he said.

Four people, including the child, two women, and a man, got hurt, HPD said. The department initially said the boy was 11, but later corrected his age to 12.

"That's somebody's child. Nobody should have to worry about their child being shot at," that resident said.

Crowson described the shooting victims' injuries as serious but said everyone is expected to be OK. He said other people were nearby and lucky not to have been hit by the gunfire.

"There were a lot of kids and stuff. Very dangerous situation here. We're very lucky we didn't have somebody killed or more people injured tonight," Crowson said.

The lieutenant added that they have not recovered any weapons and don't have information about the suspects.

"It's ridiculous, you should have duked it out with your fists, you know you could have fist fought, why, why, why pull out a gun?" that resident said.