Police: Shootout might have been smuggling-related

One person was killed and four others were injured — one critically — during a Southwest Freeway shootout Tuesday that police say might have been triggered by a rivalry between immigrant smuggling gangs. It happened around noon as people in two trucks headed north on the Southwest Freeway began exchanging fire; the two vehicles then exited the freeway, ran a red light and crashed into a car before the occupants jumped out and continued the gunfight. Police said one of the trucks was carrying at least 10 people.

Detectives found one man dead in a bullet-riddled pickup, three gunshot victims ended up at hospitals and another is in critical condition after being shot in the head and run over by a pickup or SUV as it fled the scene. At least two other vehicles were hit by bullets, but no one in those cars was injured. Police are still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but they think the shootout might have been a smuggler's attempt to hijack another smuggler's load of immigrants. "It's unknown if it was a coyote operation or a rip of some sort," HPD Sgt. C.E. Elliott told the AP. "We're still looking at that."

Interestingly enough, as KHOU reports, the city's red-light camera system might play a part in sorting things out: The intersection of the Southwest Freeway and Bissonnet, where the shootout ended, is equipped with the cameras, and they might have caught images of the action because the vehicles involved ran the light. Investigators said they've already requested any images of the shootout.