Pasadena Shooting Suspect Pedro Gonzalez Dies by Apparent Suicide After Houston Standoff

A man accused of shooting three people across three cities in a matter of hours was found dead inside a vehicle in north Houston on Friday, the apparent result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after officers closed in on him.

Pasadena Police identified the suspect as 56-year-old Pedro Gonzalez. The Houston Police Department said a tactical team discovered his body in the back seat of a vehicle near Cochran and Moody streets after a search that stretched across Harris and Montgomery counties.

The violence began Friday morning in Pasadena, where Gonzalez allegedly shot his ex-wife at a residence, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. She was hospitalized, and Gonzalez fled the scene before officers arrived.

From there, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Gonzalez drove roughly 25 miles north to New Caney, where he shot a 52-year-old woman around 9:19 a.m. in the 2300 block of Thelma Lane. Deputies and paramedics responded and took the woman to a hospital, where she is listed in stable condition and expected to survive. Witnesses told deputies Gonzalez left the area in a gray heavy-duty pickup truck.

While Montgomery County deputies searched for that truck, word came in that Gonzalez had turned up in Houston. About an hour after the New Caney shooting, Houston police said he shot a man twice, once in the face and once in the hand, in the parking lot of a Burger King in the 6200 block of East Freeway, in the city's Denver Harbor area. That victim was also taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said all three people shot Friday were acquaintances of Gonzalez and that the attacks stemmed from an ongoing personal dispute involving him. Investigators have not detailed the nature of that dispute.

Pasadena Police, working off tips and coordination with Houston officers, tracked Gonzalez to the area near Cochran and Moody streets in north Houston. Multiple agencies, including Houston police, Pasadena police and Montgomery County sheriff's deputies, converged on the location. A Houston police tactical team approached the vehicle where Gonzalez had been spotted and found him dead in the back seat, with what investigators described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Houston police said no officers fired shots during the standoff.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit and its crime scene investigators are leading the overall investigation, working alongside the Houston Police Department, Pasadena Police Department and other agencies whose jurisdictions were touched by the string of shootings. Detectives are still working to piece together the timeline of Gonzalez's movements between Pasadena, New Caney and Houston, and to confirm what triggered the dispute that investigators say connects the three victims to him.

All three people shot Friday are expected to survive their injuries. None of their names have been released.

Three shootings took place in different cities within about two hours, and police in Pasadena, sheriff's deputies in Montgomery County and Houston officers shared information as Gonzalez moved from one jurisdiction to the next. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said that cooperation helped investigators locate him before he could reach another target.

The investigation remains open. Detectives have not said whether they expect to file additional charges related to the case now that Gonzalez is dead, or whether they consider the matter closed given his death. Anyone with information related to the shootings is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office or the Houston Police Department.