Police struggle to find motive behind Houston mass shooting

The Houston Police was on Tuesday struggling to find the motive behind the mass shooting by a disgruntled Indian-origin lawyer, who fired indiscriminately and injured nine persons at a strip mall here before being shot dead.

Nathan DeSai, 46, who previously worked at McDaniel & DeSai LLP, was wearing a vintage military uniform and had Nazi emblems on him.

Acting Houston Police Chief Martha Montalvo had on Monday said that the police did not yet know exactly what caused DeSai, described as a lawyer struggling to keep his small law practice alive, to do what he did. "At this point we are very open-minded in terms of motive," Montalvo said, adding that the department was working with the FBI in the case.

DeSai used a .45-caliber handgun during the assault and police later found 2,600 rounds of ammunition and a Thompson submachine gun in his car parked near where he was killed. DeSai lived near the scene of the shooting at Weslayan and Law streets.

A search of his home turned up additional weapons and several pieces of military regalia and other items going back to the Civil War. The .45-caliber handgun was bought in 2011. The Thompson submachine gun was purchased in 2009, the Houston Chronicle reported, citing police. 

Photographs of DeSai's body show him apparently wearing military-style spats strapped over his boots. He was lying face up. His dark shirt was over his face. Police said Nazi emblems were found in his clothing. "We found some old Nazi emblems about some of his personal effects, and I understand there were some in where he lived," the paper quoted Houston Police Capt. Dwayne Ready as saying.