2 killed, 12 hurt in shooting attack on Texas college party

GREENVILLE, Texas — A gunman opened fire at an off-campus college party in Texas, leaving two people dead and 12 injured before he escaped in the ensuing chaos, a sheriff said Sunday.

Authorities believe the shooter may have been targeting one person at the party of about 750 people outside Greenville, 15 miles southwest of a satellite campus of the Texas A&M University System, and that others may have been shot at random, Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said. Authorities were still looking for the suspect Sunday, Meeks said, and had not yet identified him.

The shooting took place around midnight Saturday at what Meeks described as a Halloween and homecoming party for Texas A&M University-Commerce, though officials have said it was not a school-sanctioned event. Authorities believe there was one male shooter who entered the venue through the back door and began firing with a handgun, Meeks said.

Meeks described “complete chaos” after the shots rang out, with hundreds of people fleeing, including the gunman. The injured included four people who did not have gunshot wounds but who were hurt in the melee, he said.

The two people killed were both males, Meeks said, but he did not know whether they were A&M-Commerce students. He said he believed four or five students may have been among those injured and estimated that most of the people at the party were in their late teens and early 20s. Some were wearing costumes, he said.

Authorities have not found the gun that was used, Oxford said.

The shooting came as Texas A&M University-Commerce, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas, celebrated homecoming weekend. According to its website, it is the second-largest university in the Texas A&M University System.

Meeks said the party was held at a facility...