Man surrenders to police after two adults and three children died at the scene, with a fourth child later dying in hospital

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Four children and two adults have died after a shooting incident at a house in the Houston suburb of Spring that was followed by a car chase and police stand-off that ended with a suspect surrendering on a nearby road.

Live footage from ABC local news showed a man emerge from a car at about 10pm local time with his hands in the air. He walked for a few yards, then after a few seconds he lay down on the ground and was apprehended by armed police.

A statement from the Harris county sheriff’s office in Texas said two adults and three children were found dead by police at the scene. Two children were transported by air to hospital, where one died. The other, a 15-year-old, was in critical condition late on Wednesday, authorities said.

The shootings took place about 20 miles north of downtown Houston at a four-bedroom home in a quiet, middle-class residential neighbourhood near the town of Spring.

During the standoff local news images taken from a helicopter showed numerous police cars blocking the closed end of a cul-de-sac a couple of miles from the scene of the shooting, where the driver of a silver car had been cornered.

The sheriff’s office said members of its Swat team and hostage specialists were sent to negotiate the surrender of an armed suspect.

Mark Herman, a local police officer, told the Houston Chronicle that authorities responding at around 6pm local time found the first victims and were told that a domestic dispute had prompted the incident.

The teenager identified the suspected shooter and told police he was heading to another location to find more relatives. Officers rushed there and intercepted him and a chase began.

"It appears this stems from a domestic issue with a breakup in the family from what our witness has told us," Herman told reporters.

Ron Hickman, the precinct constable, told reporters that the suspect had held a gun to his own head during the more than three-hour standoff. Another officer, Deputy Thomas Gilliland, said those killed were two boys aged four and 14, two girls aged seven and nine, a 39-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman.

The gunman and his wife were estranged and she did not live in Texas, Gilland said. All of the children were theirs and two among the dead were adopted, he said.

It is the second mass shooting in the Houston area since the early hours of last Saturday, when four people were hit when a shooter fired into a crowd during a party at the Houston Caribbean Festival. Two other people were injured in the ensuing panic.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.