Man outside Houston gun range killed when rifle being worked on fires

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) - Harris County authorities say a 36-year-old man walking toward a building that houses a suburban Houston gun range has been shot and killed after a rifle being worked on inside the building discharged.

Sheriff's spokesman Thomas Gilliland says the bullet from the hunting rifle went through a wall and struck the man who had just got out of his car.

A medical helicopter took the man to a Houston hospital where he died later Tuesday morning. The victim has not been immediately identified.

Gilliland says the shooting appears to be accidental and "doesn't seem to be anything other than that at this point."

He says homicide detectives are questioning range employees and are trying to determine if the shooting was the result of a gun malfunction or human error.