Two people were taken to the hospital early Sunday after an argument over fireworks in southeast Houston escalated into a shootout, according to Houston police. What began as a dispute between neighbors ended with gunfire on a residential street, capping off a Fourth of July holiday that had drawn people outdoors across the region. Police said both of the wounded were expected to recover, but the episode underscored how quickly a disagreement over holiday fireworks could turn dangerous.
Authorities said the shooting happened at around one o'clock in the morning outside a home on Winston Street near Yellowstone Boulevard. According to Houston police, the trouble started when one neighbor confronted another about setting off fireworks, and the confrontation quickly grew heated. What might have remained a verbal argument instead spiraled into violence as tempers flared in the overnight hours.
Police said that as the argument intensified, both sides pulled out guns and began shooting at one another. The exchange left two people wounded, one struck in the leg and the other in the foot. Both of the injured were taken to a hospital for treatment, and officials said they were listed in stable condition, an outcome that spared the incident from becoming a deadly one.
By the time officers arrived at the scene, the people involved in the shooting had already left the area, according to police. That complicated the initial response, leaving investigators to piece together what had happened from the accounts of those at the hospital and any witnesses who remained in the neighborhood. As of the latest information from police, no arrests had been made in connection with the shooting.
The circumstances that led up to the gunfire were still being sorted out, and police did not immediately say how many people had been involved or who had fired first. Investigators were expected to review the scene and gather more details as they worked to determine exactly how the dispute had unfolded and who was responsible for opening fire on the quiet residential block.
The shooting came at the tail end of a holiday weekend in which fireworks were a common sight and sound across the Houston area. Disputes over fireworks are not unusual around the Fourth of July, as the noise, smoke and late-night activity can strain relations between neighbors. In this case, that friction turned into a shooting that sent two people to the hospital and left police searching for those responsible.
For residents of the neighborhood near Winston Street and Yellowstone Boulevard, the gunfire was an unsettling end to the celebrations. Authorities urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward as the investigation continued. Police said they would work to identify and locate everyone who had taken part in the exchange of gunfire, and to establish a clear account of how an argument over fireworks had ended with shots fired.