2 dead after shooting at vacant Garland home
GARLAND, Texas - A shooting in Garland left two people dead late Wednesday night. Now police are looking for more information.
The gunfire reportedly stemmed from an argument between two groups of people at a vacant home in the 6500 block of Glenmoor Drive, which is near Interstate 30 and Broadway Boulevard.
Garland police now believe 26-year-old Michael Ryan Love of Mesquite arranged to meet two people who he had been in contact with through an online shopping site.
He went to the vacant house with three friends and at some point the transaction turned into an argument. Gunfire erupted, police said.
Around 8 p.m., Love’s friends dropped him off at Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Sunnyvale. He died at the hospital from gunshot wounds.
Police said one of Love’s friends was treated for a minor gunshot wound. The others pointed officers to the house where the shooting happened. There officers found an unidentified man lying dead in the front yard.
A neighbor told FOX 4 he heard people arguing outside just before the shooting started.
“And I thought, well the alarm is on in my truck and the porch light is on. And I just listened to them hoping nothing would happen. And it went on for maybe about 45 seconds and then I heard gunshots, at least five or six rounds. It sounded like a handgun maybe,” Eric Imes said.
Detectives interviewed witnesses and have surveillance video from a neighbor’s home. But they are still trying to identify the second victim. They’re also searching for the person he was with and the guns that were used in the shooting.
People who live in the neighborhood say the home where the shooting happened has been vacant for several years. They don’t know why anyone would have been there Wednesday night.
Police said the dead men don’t appear to have any connection to the home.
“From what we understand, this is a vacant house. No one lives there. No one in this exchange has any knowledge or anything to do with that house whatsoever. This is a random home selected for a meeting place,” said Lt. Pedro Barineau with the Garland Police Department.
Lt. Barineau said there are safe exchange zones with cameras at police departments throughout the Metroplex. He warned that if someone doesn’t want to meet at a safe zone, that’s probably not someone you want to do business with.