Teen shot to death near Cleveland H-E-B store
CLEVELAND, Texas (KTRK) -- Police in Cleveland said a teenager was shot to death Wednesday afternoon near an H-E-B gas station.
According to the Cleveland Police Department, officers responded to a call of the incident at Truly Plaza on Highway 105 and Washington at 2:14 p.m.
The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Cleveland Police Chief Darrel Broussard calls the shooting shocking, saying it occurred in the middle of the afternoon near the busiest intersection in town.
He tells ABC13 the victim was shot while sitting inside a parked red truck near the H-E-B gas station and Hartz Chicken drive-thru, then staggered to the fast food restaurant for help.
"He pretty much tapped the side of the car and slumped over and hit the ground," Chief Broussard said.
A Hartz employee tells us good Samaritans rushed to action, doing everything they could to keep him alive, making sure he was not alone.
"They were checking his pulse, they were saying it was too low," Angel Martinez said.
The victim later died at the hospital.
Police say the red truck and a white van were acting suspiciously hours before the shooting.
The chief says they were both parked in the H-E-B parking lot, where they sat for some time without anyone getting out of the cars. Then they left and later returned.
That's when Broussard says a man from the van got into the red truck, and within seconds shots were fired.
The white van and red truck sped off, leaving the victim behind.
That red truck was later found burning in a ditch, 10 miles south of town in the community of Plum Grove.
"Some onlookers that were clearing property saw the truck burning down in the lower ditch area," Broussard said.
Detectives are still searching for the white utility van with noticeable damage on the passenger side panel.
They say at least two people are considered suspects.
Police urged anyone with information on the case to call 281-592-2622.
VEHICLE OF INTEREST: WHITE 'PAINTER'S TYPE' TRUCK
