Police say freeway shootout might be tied to smugglers

  

(4/17/07 - HOUSTON) -- One person was killed and several others injured Tuesday in what police say might have been a freeway shootout involving rival immigrant smuggling gangs.

At about noon, occupants of two northbound trucks exchanged gunfire along a southwest Houston freeway, said police Sgt. C.E. Elliott.

The vehicles exited and ran a red light before crashing into a car.

Elliott said the trucks' occupants "then proceeded to get out of their vehicles to have a shootout."

One of the trucks was carrying at least 10 people, police said.

One man was in critical condition at a nearby hospital after being shot in the head and run over by a U.S.-made pickup truck or sports utility vehicle as it sped from the scene.

Detectives found another man dead in the other truck -- a bullet-riddled pickup. Three other gunshot victims later turned up at area hospitals.

Police did not immediately release the names of any of the people involved in the shootout.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the shootout might have been one smuggler's attempt to hijack a rival's load of immigrants.

"It's unknown if it was a coyote operation or a rip of some sort," said Elliott. "... We're still looking at that."

At least two other vehicles were hit by stray bullets, but no one was injured.

Police had one suspect in custody Tuesday night.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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