Sunroof Gunman Kills 3 in Another Car

A man squeezed through the sunroof of a Jaguar early Tuesday and opened fire with an assault rifle on another moving vehicle, killing three men and critically wounding a fourth, police said.

Authorities were searching for the gunman and two others who might have been riding in the light-colored Jaguar with fancy wheels, police said.

University Park Police Capt. Robert Brown said the shooting could have stemmed from a scuffle at a bar earlier. He said the shooter apparently waited for the other party to leave the bar, and then followed in the Jaguar. The shooting occurred around 2 a.m. on a highway frontage road near the Southern Methodist University campus, police said.

Killed were Eddie Pech, 36; and cousins Bernardo Andrade, 21; and Favio Andrade, 19, police said. Osvaldo Juarez, a juvenile whose age was not released, was listed in “very critical” condition.

“Apparently, there was a dispute on the dance floor in which somebody got hit or punched,” said Mike Turiace, who was tending bar at Jack’s Pub & Volley Ball Club. “The guy just got angry and decided to pursue it.”

A police officer waiting at a traffic light at the intersection witnessed the shootings and stopped to help, Dallas Police Sgt. Gil Cerda said. Police policy prohibited the officer from pursuing the fleeing Jaguar because he had a prisoner from an unrelated case in his back seat.

Investigators found and impounded a Jaguar they suspected was involved in the shooting, University Park Police Capt. E.L. Holman said.

Turiace and others said Jack’s Pub was normally a safe, friendly place that hosted festivals and volleyball matches and attracted a college crowd from Southern Methodist.

But the clientele shifts a bit on Monday nights, when the bar advertises $2 drinks, a packed dance floor with two DJs and a time so good “You won’t believe it’s not Saturday,” according to its website.

Turiace said the fight didn’t cause a big stir in the crowded pub, but its policy is to escort instigators outside after a fight.

“It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary that would lead to this,” he said. “I guess certain people have it in their minds that this is their type of proper justice.”

University Park, a city covering 4.5 square miles, has a low crime rate and doesn’t see many homicides, Brown said.

“This is new to us, but we’re capable of investigating it,” he said, noting that Dallas police were assisting.