At Least 5 Dead and Up to 20 Injured in Shootings Near Odessa, Tex.

AdvertisementSupported byThe attack began at a traffic stop, the authorities said, and the gunman is dead.By Manny Fernandez, Neil Vigdor and Christopher MeleHOUSTON — Five people were killed and at least 21 others were injured in a brazen daylight drive-by mass shooting in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa on Saturday, as a gunman drove on the highways and streets opening fire on residents, motorists and shoppers, the authorities said.The attack at the start of Labor Day weekend terrified sister cities 20 miles apart with a combined population of 263,000, less than a month after gunmen killed 31 people in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, in back-to-back massacres that stunned the nation and revived the debate in Washington over gun control.The chief of the Odessa Police Department, Michael Gerke, said at a news conference on Saturday that the attack had begun after a traffic stop. “Our hearts break,” Vice President Mike Pence told reporters Saturday as he prepared to depart for Poland at Andrews Air Force Base, adding that both he and President Trump “remain absolutely determined to work with leaders in both parties and the Congress to take such steps so that we can address and confront this scourge of mass atrocities.”The shooting rekindled a debate over gun control that had been prompted by the El Paso attack but had faded when Mr. Trump appeared to defer to Congress, which went into recess. Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who is from El Paso, wrote, “More information is forthcoming, but here’s what we know: We need to end this epidemic.”Odessa police officials said the incident began late Saturday afternoon at 3:25 p.m., when a state trooper on Interstate 20 between Midland and Odessa tried to pull the suspect over. As reporters were live on the air reporting on the shootings that left five dead, they were ordered by the authorities to leave the studio.They continued to report the news through their microphones, describing a scene of trash and footwear left behind by shoppers running from the mall.Russell Tippin, the chief executive of the Medical Center Health System in Odessa, said 13 people had been treated at the hospital, including one who had died and a patient younger than 2 who had been transferred to another hospital. Gov. Greg Abbott, who formed the commission following the El Paso shooting, was making plans to be in Odessa on Sunday morning.“We’re not nearly past El Paso and then here it happens again,” said State Senator Kel Seliger, a Republican whose district includes Odessa and who is a former mayor of Amarillo, a city four hours north of where the attack unfolded.