“We are now at 9 total gunshot wound victims: 2 were confirmed deceased at scene, 1 was critical, the others remain hospitalised,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.

The attack on a group of Hispanic men in their 20s occurred around 9.30pm on Friday  at a parking lot in a residential Houston neighbourhood, Gonzalez said at a media briefing that night.

A video posted on Twitter Saturday morning by a Houston Chronicle reporter showed bloodstains on the ground in the parking lot and cars dotted with bullet holes.

“There were other vehicles that were staged there, and they were filming some type of music video when, all of a sudden, basically they were ambushed, we believe by individuals in cars and/or foot that fired shots into the parking lot,” Gonzalez said in the media briefing.

Police do not yet know the motive for the shooting, he added.

According to government figures, around 40,000 people died from gunfire in 2017 in the US, a country that is plagued by frequent gun violence.