HOUSTON -- Gunmen opened fire during a wedding reception at a Chinese restaurant and killed two people before one of the victims apparently returned fire, killing one of the attackers, authorities said Sunday.
Police searched for an undetermined number of suspects, believed to be Vietnamese, in the shootout at 9:15 p.m. Saturday outside the Yit Ing Ho Restaurant east of downtown Houston.
'When I walked around the corner I saw two guys shooting,' said Gene Philippi, a security guard at the restaurant. 'They backed up and got into a car with two other men and just drove away as if nothing had happened.'
Minh Ba Le, 35, and Lee Loi, age not known, were killed by the gunmen, said Sgt. H.G. Welch.
A suspected attacker, Than Van Ngyuen, was believed killed by return gunfire from one of the two victims, Welch said.
He added, however, that it will probably be days before it is know which of the victims fired the shots and if the shootings were gang related. All three of the people killed in the incident were believed to be Vietnamese.
'The two complainants knew the suspects,' Welch said. 'The complainants had attended a wedding reception and were shot outside the restaurant.
'The problem is that whenever the shooting started everybody scattered and it will be a few days before we can talk to enough people to find out who was involved and who was not involved.'
One of the victims escaped from the gunmen but collapsed and died a half a block away, police said. A second victim was gunned down in front of the restaurant near a bullet-riddled car and died of head wounds, police said. A third victim was hospitalized but later died late Saturday, Beck said.
Investigators said they were not sure if others were injured and the motive of the shooting was not clear. They found at least 20 spent cartridges from handguns and an automatic rifle near the restaurant.
Police said few of the wedding quests were willing to talk about the incident.
'There is definitely a language barrier, and most of these people don't want to talk to the police in front of others,' said an investigator.
An employee of the Chinese resturant, who asked not to be identified, said Sunday he was in the kitchen at the time the shots were fired but did not know any details.
Police did not know where the wedding was held or how many people were at the reception.
