Gunfire at a one-year-old’s birthday party left four men dead and one injured in the latest mass shooting this year in Texas, a state known for its liberal gun laws.
According to authorities, the shooting began in the small town of Taft near Corpus Christi, after two separate families got into an argument around 5 p.m. Saturday. Police are currently looking for two people who are suspected to have been involved in the shooting.
The injured victim is currently being treated in the hospital, although his condition is not known.
“There was a lot of people who witnessed this happen,” said Sgt. Nathan Brandley of the state’s Department of Public Safety, according to the local NBC affiliate. “Still interviewing eye witnesses and everybody that was there at the party, trying to piece all the pieces of the puzzle together.”
Sgt. Nathan Brandley, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, provides details on the fatal shooting in Taft. Via @callerdotcom pic.twitter.com/ZP0M0wosLH
— Meagan Falcon (@meaganfalcon) October 14, 2018
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the Taft shooting is one of the latest in a particularly violent year that has seen nearly 300 mass shootings.
Texas has been home to two of the deadliest shootings of the past year — one in May at Sante Fe High School, which killed 10 people, and another last November at a church in Sutherland Springs which left 26 dead.
As the Caller Times reported in May, the state has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the country, including open-carry rights for individuals 18 years and older, who have taken a safety course and have a permit.
According to the Giffords Law Center, Texas does not require firearms dealers to initiate background checks before transferring a gun and dealers must conduct the background check by contacting the FBI directly. Private dealers are not required to initiate a background check when transferring a gun.