Multiple dead, dozens injured after shooter 'hijacked mail truck'

A shooting in Texas has left five people dead and injured several others in a rampage that started after a police officer pulled over a man on a traffic stop near the west-central city of Odessa.

Officer Steve Rogers confirmed that there were 21 civilian victims in the mass shooting on Saturday and that five people were confirmed dead.

In addition to the civilian victims three law enforcement officers, including the one that made the traffic stop, were wounded, Rogers said at a news conference.

The shooter, identified only as a white male in his mid 30s, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. It was unclear whether the shooter was included among the five dead, and Rogers said police did not yet know his motive.

The man was driving a gold Honda when he was pulled over but later abandoned that vehicle and stole a mail delivery truck from which he continued his rampage, Rogers said. The shooting left crime scenes all over the city with a population of about 116,000.

According to CBS 7, three police officers were among the wounded. A local hospital has taken in three victims, who are in a critical condition, and three who are in a stable condition.

Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told CNN the shooter was shot and killed in the parking lot of a movie theatre.

“We’re hoping it’s just one shooter and we have contained him,” Morales said.

The mayor said he did not know anything about the suspect or what his motive was. Morales also said one police officer was shot and was in surgery with non-life threatening injuries.

People in Odessa were instructed to "get off the road and use extreme caution," according to an Odessa Police Department post on Facebook.

"The suspect came into Odessa and just started shooting," Mayor David Turner said on Fox News.

Turner said the shooter shot from his vehicle into a restaurant and retail area of Odessa before he was shot and killed in an area near a cinema.

Rogers and Turner said there was only one shooter despite earlier reports that there might have been two.

The police department of Midland, Texas, about 30 kilometres northeast of Odessa, said there were two shooters in two separate vehicles and also warned people to stay away from particular areas.

"We believe there are two shooters in two separate vehicles," the department said on Facebook.

It said the two vehicles are a small, gold and white Toyota truck and a US Postal Service van.

US President Donald Trump said he been briefed by Attorney General William Barr about the shootings. The FBI and other law enforcement are "fully engaged," he tweeted, promising more updates later.

Vice President Mike Pence commended law enforcement for their "swift and courageous response" to the shooting. The president will continue to monitor the situation, he added.

The shooting comes four weeks after 22 people were killed at a shopping centre in El Paso, Texas, by a gunman who told police he targeted Mexicans.

Hours after the shooting in Texas, a gunman opened fire in a nightclub district in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine. There was no link between the two attacks.

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