Five dead, 21 injured in Texas after gunman 'shoots at random'

Police believe there could be two shooters in separate vehicles. Photo / Twitter

An active shooter has been shot and killed by police after opening fire and killing at least five people and injuring another 21 "at random" in the United States.

Police confirmed the deaths and said the "rampage began with the shooting of a Texas State Trooper" after one man hijacked a U.S. Postal Service Jeep in Odessa, Texas and began "shooting at random people" shortly after 4pm local time.

Police initially reported that there could be more than one shooter, but Gerke says authorities now believe it was one shooter.

Three law enforcement officials were injured in the shooting.

University of Texas of the Permian Basin, in Odessa, was in lockdown.

Falcons: law enforcement in Midland and Odessa are working to locate and contain a shooter. Please stay in your dorm or office and do not open your doors. There were initial reports that the suspect was in east odessa. We will post here as soon as the situation is under control

— UT Permian Basin (@utpb) August 31, 2019

Earlier, police said multiple people had been shot — including a state trooper — and urged locals to get off the road and exercise extreme caution.

Odessa is about 32km southwest of Midland. Both are more than 483km west of Dallas.

this is real happening in Odessa , everyone please stay home and be safe , me and some coworkers witnessed the white van shooting and hitting a cop car pic.twitter.com/vM8tEoZkT6

— ✿𝒦𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃✿ (@kmjuarezz) August 31, 2019