Mariah Boulden celebrated her 18th birthday with a party Saturday night at her two-story home in Cypress, a small community 25 miles northwest of Houston. The party was promoted on several social media sites. More than 100 mostly 17-19-year-old partygoers showed up. It was a Texas-seized, Texas-style party.
According to Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, people were dancing in the home at about 11 p.m. when someone fired a pistol in the air in celebration. Pandemonium followed with partygoers scrambling for the street, some jumping from second floor windows. More shots rang out and when the smoke cleared, two partygoers were dead, one an 18-year-old boy and the other a 16-year-old girl. 16 partygoers were wounded by gunfire, two critically, while four others were injured as they fled from the house. A neighbor told Sheriff’s deputies that he heard up to 10 shots and when the gunfire ended, he observed a slow-moving car round a corner and then speed away.
Shaniqua Brown, who went to the party after she learned about it through Instagram, told the Associated Press that the party "was not rowdy at all." She said the gunfire started inside the house, then continued outside.
Birthday-girl Boulden told the AP that she employed a bouncer who patted down people as they entered the home. Two men refused to be searched and walked away, but they apparently hopped a neighbor's fence and entered through a back gate. She said, "They weren't supposed to be here, whoever they were."
Sheriff Garcia said his investigators were seeking two suspected gunmen, one believed to be about 17 and the other about 22.
UPDATE: The Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced that two suspects were arrested Monday in the Cypress birthday party shooting. Willie Young, 21, is charged with deadly conduct and Randy Stewart, 18, is charged with aggravated assault. The charges could be upgraded. Sheriff Garcia said the suspects may be gang affiliated. Boulden said Young and Stewart were the ones who refused to be patted down.
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