What we learned about attorney in 'active shooter' incident

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has formally identified the suspect in the active shooter incident on Monday morning as 46-year-old Nathan DeSai.

One of Nathan DeSai’s neighbors tells FOX 26 News that he was the first person that DeSai fired gunshots at and was the first to contact 911 dispatchers.That neighbor says he believes DeSai had mental problems and says if he would have done his normal morning routine of walking his dog, he would probably be a dead man right now.

“I think he just snapped and I think something happened to him in his personal life and he just cracked,” says neighbor Jennifer Stone, who is far from being the only neighbor to describe DeSai as mentally unbalanced or see him in the past locked and loaded.

“We had our roofs re-shingled and he was at home during the day trying to take a nap,” says Stone. “He got angry with all the hammering of the nails and then he came out with his rifle and threatened the workers.”

Another neighbor tells FOX 26 that in the two years he lived near DeSai, he never saw any visitors.

“He was very quiet,” says Stone. “I never saw anybody coming and going his Porsche was always parked in his parking spot at all times.”

DeSai was a licensed attorney who practiced both civil and criminal law.

However, upon checking with the courts, FOX 26 learned that DeSai had no active cases.

“Well, it’s a horrible situation," says attorney Kenneth McDaniel, who once operated a law firm with DeSai."I don’t like hearing anything that’s happened not only to Nathan but everybody involved.” 

“We mutually dissolved our partnership early this year, I think it was early February,” says McDaniel.“I haven’t really had any contact with him since.”

While police initially described DeSai as a disgruntled former employee of a law firm, McDaniel disputes that.

“That’s made up,” explains McDaniel. “There’s no issues with the law firm.”

When FOX 26 approached the southwest Houston home of Prakash Desai, Nathan's father, no one answered the knocks at the door.

Police say the motive for the shooting remains under investigation, meaning only DeSai, who was shot to death by police, knows what prompted him to give Houston a Monday morning that no one will ever forget.