A 14-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly perpetrating a shooting Sunday night at a gas station grocery store in Garland, Texas, which left three Latino teenagers dead and injured another boy, authorities said.
The fatalities were identified as
Xavier González, 14, Ivan Noyala, 16, and Rafael García, 17
.
The other wounded young man, 15 years old and whose name was not disclosed, worked at the premises and is currently stable in a hospital, according to the police in a statement.
"We arrested a person 30 minutes ago. Someone we suspect is the shooter. He's a 14-year-old teenager," Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan announced at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Police officers inspect the area where three Latino teens died in Garland, Texas via NBC5 DFW
Bryan clarified that the suspect had not yet been formally charged with the three murders and that his arrest was in response to an outstanding arrest warrant.
His identity was not released.
Two of the deceased teens walked into the store together.
However,
the 14-year-old who also died "was just there asking for food for his family,"
Bryan said.
The shooting suspect used a 40-caliber pistol with an extended magazine and
fired at least 20 times
, according to the investigation.
"We want to know why [he did it]. We don't have an answer as to why. We're trying to understand it," the Garland police chief said.
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"When it comes to children, when it comes to 14- and 16-year-olds who commit [criminal] acts, and victims of [criminal] acts, it
is even more difficult for us to understand,
" he acknowledged.
Authorities are looking for "a person of interest" in connection with the shooting.
"We do not know who he is. He is not a suspect in the shooting, but he
is a person of interest with whom we want to speak,
" he said.
Captured by the security camera
Officers went to the scene shortly after 7:30 pm (local time) in Garland, a city northeast of Dallas, the police department said.
On video: Body cameras recorded the shooting where a Latina teenager died in California
Dec. 28, 202101: 51
Inside the store they found four young men with gunshot wounds.
Three of them were declared dead in the same place
, while the fourth was transferred to a medical center.
The security camera captured how "a light-skinned male got out of a white 4-door Dodge pickup, opened the front doors of the store and began firing a gun, hitting the victims," according to the authorities' statement. .
Later,
he was seen climbing on the passenger side of
the vehicle in which he had arrived, before
the passenger
fled the scene "at high speed".
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The suspect was last seen wearing a baseball cap, dark athletic shorts, and a blue surgical mask.
He was not wearing a shirt, according to police.
"The investigation is still active and detectives are still trying to determine what led to the shooting," police said, urging anyone with information to contact authorities.
With information from
NBC News
and
CNN