Man kills two stopping to help on Dallas freeway

DALLAS – A man with a shotgun opened fire on motorists and police who stopped to help with what appeared to be a wreck on a downtown freeway early Sunday, killing two people and wounding two others before taking his own life, authorities said.

Authorities say they may never know why 20-year-old Nick A. Salinas, of Cedar Hill, started shooting. He killed himself with the shotgun used in the slayings.

Witnesses told investigators they stopped to help a motorist on the side of Interstate 35 when someone inside the car shot at them. One witness left in his car after the shooter pointed a gun at him, police said.

Officers spotted two people lying on the side of the road and stopped to help, unaware of the shootout, police said. As one officer aided a person on the ground, his partner, Senior Cpl. Jerry Poston, was shot.

Poston, a 17-year veteran of the department, was hospitalized at Methodist Central in serious but stable condition, police said.

The other wounded man was was in stable condition with serious injuries.