Texas police on Monday announced the arrest of two young men in connection with a deadly shooting at a house party in suburban Houston over the weekend that left two high school students dead, and nearly two dozen other guests injured. According to the Houston Chronicle, 21-year-old Willie Young is charged with deadly conduct, and 18-year-old Randy Stewart is charged with aggravated assault.
Police are still piecing together exactly what happened at the house party in Cypress, which was packed with more than 100 school-age partygoers, but here’s the current working theory, via the New York Times:
Sheriff Adrian Garcia of Harris County said the chaos apparently began when a young man fired a gun inside the house in celebration. Another young man standing nearby pulled out a gun and fired into the crowd in response, the sheriff said. “I can only assume that it is just a horrible combination of immaturity, access to a firearm and the inability to control one’s self,” Sheriff Garcia said on Sunday.
The two victims who died, a 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, were students at local high schools. About 16 other young people had gunshot wounds, and four others were treated for various injuries, including a broken leg and twisted ankles. The sheriff described the party as a “birthday party gone wild,” and criticized its organizers for promoting it widely on social media and creating dangerous conditions inside.
The Times also notes that an adult had been serving as a bouncer at the front door, patting down guests in an apparent attempt to check for weapons. The two suspects, however, appear to have come in through a back door, avoiding the pat-down.
