2019 Midland–Odessa shootings

On August 31, 2019, a spree shooting took place across the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa. A gunman fired at people from a moving vehicle over an extended route, killing seven people and injuring twenty-five others, including three police officers. The perpetrator was fatally shot by police outside the Cinergy Odessa movie theater, bringing the total death toll, including the shooter, to eight. Victims ranged in age from 15 to 57; a 17-month-old child was among the wounded. This was the third major U.S. mass shooting that month, following the El Paso Walmart shooting and the Dayton, Ohio shooting.

The shooting began around 3:17 p.m. during a traffic stop on Interstate 20, when the driver shot a Texas state trooper who had stopped him for a traffic violation. He then drove for an extended period through Midland and Odessa, firing into numerous vehicles and at bystanders along a winding route. Victims included two motorists killed on the highway, a teenage girl killed at a car dealership, a man killed in his car near an intersection, a man shot inside his own home, and a 29-year-old U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who was dragged from her mail van and killed; the shooter then hijacked her vehicle and continued the attack. The rampage ended when he attempted to ram a police roadblock near the evacuated movie theater; an officer intentionally struck the hijacked van to slow it, and the shooter was killed in a subsequent exchange of gunfire with police.

Authorities identified the shooter as 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator, of Lorena, Texas. Earlier that day, Ator had been fired from his job at an oilfield services company after becoming agitated during his termination; he made accusations involving child pornography and a stalking "cult," rammed his car through the business's fence, and called 911 with rambling, threatening statements before the shooting began. Investigators later reported that in 2014 Ator had failed a background check to purchase a firearm because a prior court determination found him mentally unfit, but he was later able to obtain the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack through a private sale that did not require a background check.

The FBI opened an investigation and searched Ator's residence. Investigators traced the rifle to Marcus Anthony Braziel, of Lubbock, Texas, who had sold it to Ator in October 2016. Braziel pleaded guilty in October 2020 to illegally dealing firearms without a license and to a false tax return charge related to his firearms dealing, and in January 2021 was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

The shootings prompted statements from numerous political figures, including President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and members of the Texas legislature. Democratic lawmakers pressed for a special legislative session on gun violence, while some Republican officials emphasized mental illness and opposed new gun restrictions. Governor Abbott subsequently issued executive orders addressing responses to the El Paso and Odessa-Midland shootings. A memorial, the Bright Star Memorial Plaza, was later opened on the University of Texas of the Permian Basin campus in August 2024.