A man evicted from an apartment building in Houston set homes on fire to lure other tenants out, then opened fire, killing three of them. 

The incident took place shortly before 1 am on Sunday in a mixed industrial-residential neighborhood in southwest Houston.

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Police and fire crews responded to the apartment building after receiving reports of the fire, police Chief Troy Finner said.

Investigation revealed the gunman set the building on fire and when the other tenants tried to flee, he opened fire at them possibly with a shotgun.

“This suspect, unfortunately, and very sadly, and very evilly, set fire to several residents,” Finner said.

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The suspect then “laid in wait for those residents to come out and fired upon them,” he said.

Five people were shot. Two of them were dead at the scene, and one died at a hospital. Fire teams rescued two other wounded men, who were hospitalized with non-life-threatening wounds, he said.

The gunman then opened fire as the firefighters battled the fire, forcing them to take cover until police officers spotted the him and shot him dead.

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Finner said cops found him in a parking lot just across the street. One of the officers then engaged in gunfire with the suspect. The officer, who is a 7-year veteran, is now on administrative leave, per department protocol.

“I’m very proud of him,” Finner said. “Who knows, that suspect probably would have tried to shoot somebody else.”

No identities have been released, and no firefighters or officers were wounded, he said.

“I’ve seen things I have not seen before in 32 years, and it has happened time and time again,” Finner said. “We just ask that the community come together.”