Houston gunman had thousands of rounds
HOUSTON — A disgruntled lawyer wearing military-style apparel with old Nazi emblems had two weapons and more than 2,500 rounds of live ammunition when he randomly shot at drivers in a Houston neighborhood before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.
Nine people were injured during Monday morning’s shootings on the street in front of a condo complex. Six were shot and three had eye injuries from flying glass. One person was in critical condition.
Police did not identify the man and did not have information about a motive. A bomb-squad robot examined a Porsche that police said belonged to the gunman. Texas motor vehicle records in a commercially available database showed the car is licensed to Nathan DeSai at an address in the condo complex.
The man had two legally purchased guns — a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a semi-automatic rifle commonly known as a Tommy gun — and an unsheathed knife.
Nine officers were involved in a shootout with the man, who was firing randomly at people driving by, police said.
Mayor Sylvester Turner told KTRK-TV in Houston that DeSai was a lawyer who was “disgruntled” and was “either fired or had a bad relationship with this law firm.” But DeSai’s former law partner, Kenneth McDaniel, disputed that assertion, saying they jointly closed their 12-year-old law firm in February due to economic conditions related to Houston’s energy industry downturn.
McDaniel also said he hadn’t had contact with DeSai lately and that police called him Monday morning to check on his safety, though they didn’t explain why.
“He went his way with his practice and I went with mine,” McDaniel said, adding, “All I can say it’s a horrible situation. I’m sad for everyone involved.”
Calls placed to phone numbers connected to DeSai and his father were not immediately answered.
