7 injured in shooting at Prairie View A&M homecoming party

WALLER COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) - The Waller County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that left seven people injured at a homecoming party late Sunday night.

According to information shared in a press release, detectives with the agency were called to reports of shots fired just after 10 p.m.

The incident happened in the 3500 block of Cameron Rd. in Waller County.

Responding deputies found four adult women, two adult men, and one male juvenile had been shot while attending a trail ride pasture party. Investigators say the event was held in conjunction with a Prairie View A&M homecoming party.

Authorities say the victims were shot in their lower extremities and their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Those living near the event say while tickets are available for juveniles, it becomes more of a rowdy concert than a trail ride.

“This is promoted as a family event. Family event a trail ride. A trail route is 1% of what’s done there. You’ve got it’s mostly rap singers and rap bands and things like that. So there’s a lot of juveniles running around and mostly juveniles college age,” Joe Sansone said. “You had seven people whose lives are gonna be changed were shot. You’ve got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of residents that couldn’t get home. You’ve got my daughter here home alone crying because she’s scared and she’s hearing on the news that there are gunshots. People’s lives are changed.”

Sansone said he spoke to organizers about his safety concerns for his property and neighbors, so a private security team was hired by the organizers to help keep everyone safe. Sansone says while this was helpful and organizers were easy to work with, the event has gotten out of control over the past few years. Event organizers had to file a permit for a mass gathering at the location, which was approved by Waller County Judge Trey Duhon.

Duhon released a statement Monday afternoon saying “The organizers for this event went through the proper steps in terms of filing an application for a mass gathering permit.... [But] obviously, the organizers failed to meet permit conditions on a number of issues, and an investigation is ongoing at this time.”

Detectives believe shots were fired after a verbal dispute involving several people at the party. No arrests have been made.

Sunday afternoon, the Waller County Sheriff’s Office posted a message on its Facebook page about the event. It urged people to avoid the area because of expected traffic congestion related to the event.

Monday morning, the sheriff’s office said they believe more than 1,000 people attended the event, which did have private security.

“None of the security protocols that were established by the permitting body and agreed to by the promoter were found to be followed at the time of the incident,” said the release.

Prairie View A&M University sent out the following statement:

“PVAMU is both saddened and troubled by the senseless act of violence that occurred in Waller County last night. Although this was not an official PVAMU homecoming event and was unaffiliated with the University, our campus community is deeply concerned for those injured and all affected by this incident. The Waller County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation.”