United States: "Blind" shootings kill 5 Texas dead

Eighth shootings in the United States, Saturday. In Odessa, Texas, a man randomly fired at motorists, killing at least five people and injuring 21 others. He was himself shot dead by the police. Facts that come less than a month after the killing of El Paso, another Texas town 500 kilometers farther west.

"We have at least 21 victims, 21 gunshot victims and at least five deaths at this stage," a police spokesman for the city of Odessa told reporters. According to the mayor of nearby Midland, interviewed on Fox News, three police officers are among the wounded.

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The shooter first managed to flee

The police in this town of about 100,000 had initially reported "an individual (possibly two) rolling in Odessa by shooting people at random." She had asked the locals not to take the road and be extremely careful.

The shooting started when a patrol car attempted to stop a vehicle on I-20, between Odessa and the nearby town of Midland, but "the driver, the only occupant of the car, pointed a rifle through the rear window of his vehicle and fired several shots at the police patrol, "said the Texas Department of Public Security in a statement. A policeman was wounded and the shooter managed to flee, "while continuing to shoot innocent people," riddling several cars with bullets.

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Donald Trump reacted

"I just learned that a friend has died," Odessa Mayor David Turner told Fox News. "That coward stopped next to" the car where he was stopped at a stop, with his family, and opened fire, told David Turner. He was later killed in an exchange of fire with the police. The reasons for this killings are not known.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he was briefed on the shooting: "The FBI (Federal Police, Ed) and the police are fully engaged," he assured.

Two more shootings in early August

The umpteenth shooting came less than a month after a gunman shot dead 22 people in another Texas town, El Paso, about 500 kilometers west of Odessa. The shooting in a supermarket in this border town of Mexico had killed 22 people on August 3, mainly Hispanics. Police arrested a 21-year-old white man who said he had targeted "Mexicans" first.

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After this tragedy, Donald Trump was singled out for allegedly fueling hatred against Hispanic immigrants. And the El Paso shooting was followed a few hours later by another in Dayton, Ohio (North), where 9 people were killed.

The eternal debate over the control of the circulation of firearms had then resumed and will constitute again one of the stakes of the campaign for the presidential one of 2020.

Democrats call for change

"My heart is broken, I feel nauseous and angry. A few weeks after the horror in El Paso, another community in Texas was terrorized by gun violence. Enough. We must put an end to this epidemic, "tweeted former Vice President Joe Biden, well placed in the race for the Democratic primary for the next presidential election.

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In the aftermath of the El Paso shootings, Donald Trump favored "common sense" reforms on arms sales, before backtracking after a conversation with the boss of the powerful pro-arms lobby. NRA Wayne LaPierre.

Former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, another of the Democratic primary candidates, appealed to the Republican-controlled Senate, "who refuses to budge on arms control reform." "What is the number? How many Americans are you going to sacrifice for the NRA? He asked himself.