As search continues for gunman in 2 random shootings, victim speaks out

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Traynor Swanson is intrigued by the idea of being a war correspondent one day.

Last Thursday, the 21-year-old was shot on his way to work, not in a war, but in a a random - yet intentional - shooting.

The University of Houston student was in his pickup at a stop light on Scott and North Macgregor when he says he heard a sound.

"It was like a pop and I felt something on my arm, like maybe someone had brushed it with their side mirror," he said.

It turned his attention to the truck next to him, when he immediately focused on a rifle with a scope pointed at him, from a distance of several feet.

"He could have shot me in the head, but instead he shot my arm, which I dunked and tried to get down in the seat," Swanson said. "He didn't try to rob me, just shoot me."

Swanson wans't grazed by the bullet; instead, the bullet severed the artery in his left arm.

"I called 911 and started screaming," he said.

People who heard him came to his aid and placed a 911 call.

By then, Swanson said he was starting to lose consciousness.

He was taken to nearby Ben Taub Hospital, where he spent three days in ICU. Doctors performed three surgeries to successfully save his arm. The operations last a combined 13 hours.

Several days later, Swanson was told a man matching the same description shot at another man on Calumet St, also in Third Ward. He dodged the bullet.

His description was the same: A man, 25 to 35 years old, African-American, with short hair and glasses, driving a later model GMC truck, dark in color.

No similar shootings have been reported in the area, but the case was referred to HPD's Investigative First Responders division. A "be out on the lookout for" alert was issued to patrol officers.

It's the random nature, without a robbery motive, that disturbs people in the Third Ward area.

The fact the incidents occurred in the daytime doesn't surprise resident Erin Jones.

"Crime doesn't distinguish by time," she said.

As for Swanson, he's giving up the house he rented in the area, and has moved in with his parents, far from Houston.

For that, his mother is grateful.

"There are just some monsters," she says of the person who could have killed her only son.