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One person was killed and four others were critically injured in a mass shooting at a Texas cabinet factory, police have confirmed.
Authorities say that an employee at Kent Moore Cabinets in Bryan, Texas, may be responsible for the violent scenes that unfolded at an industrial complex on Thursday afternoon.
Police say that a law enforcement officer was also shot at another scene near the town, while another uninjured person was taken to hospital after suffering an asthma attack during the incident.
All of the victims were being treated at St Joseph Health Regional Hospital in Bryan.
Officials say that it took police officers a “short time” to respond to the scene, by which time the gunman had already left the factory, where several hundred people reportedly work.
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A manhunt was launched for the suspect and they were taken into custody almost two hours after the shooting began, but have not yet been identified by police.
Investigators have not revealed a motive behind the shooting or said whether the gunman was acting alone.
“We really don’t know the motive, we’re still investigating that,” said Bryan Police Chief Eric Buske.
Witnesses leaving the factory told local TV stations that all of the victims were male, and that the shooter appeared “selective” about whom was shot.
Officials say that a nearby school was temporarily placed on lockdown but reopened for parents to collect students.
Lt Jason James of Bryan Police Department says that six ambulances had responded to the scene where officers found “several victims.”
The second shooting was reported an hour later in Iola, a small city northeast of Bryan, that involved a Department of Public Safety trooper as officers searched for the suspect.
Bullet holes were seen in a Department of Public Safety vehicle after a trooper was shot while in pursuit of the suspect in Grimes County, Texas.
That officer is in a serious but stable condition, according to Texas DPS.
“A DPS Trooper was shot while pursuing an individual suspected of being involved in the shooting in Bryan. He remains in serious but stable condition,” DPS said in a Twitter statement.
Police say they are working on a phone line where the families of Kent Moore employees can get updates.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that the suspected gunman was now in custody.
“Cecilia and I are praying for the victims and their families and for the law enforcement officer injured while apprehending the suspect,” the governor said in a statement.
The shooting came just hours after Mr Abbott had taken to Twitter to accuse Joe Biden of “threatening our 2nd Amendment rights.”
It the latest in a string of mass shootings across the country over the last month, and came on the same day that Joe Biden announced executive orders on gun control.
The White House hopes the moves will reduce gun violence and the president has urged Congress to pass wider gun-control legislation.
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