EDINBURG Gunmen dressed as cops barged into two homes in a rural neighborhood here early Sunday, killing six men after demanding drugs, money and weapons, local authorities said. The home invasion robbery claimed the lives of two sets of brothers from different families the only four victims that had been identified by late evening, although authorities were not releasing their names. "We are still trying to identify the other individuals (and) because of the gunshot wounds they received, it is very difficult right now," said Sgt. Rey Ramirez Sr., chief of detectives for the Edinburg Police Department. "They got shot in the head. They sprayed the bodies. We are looking at some type of weapon that is possibly fully automatic." The two old wood-frame homes where the shootings took place were in the same lot, in a neighborhood in the city's Northeast Side. The victims were all men between 20 and 32 years old. In one home, the mother of two of the victims, ages 24 and 32, was tied up with electrical cords along with one of her sons. The only one not gunned down, she called 911 after the killers fled. She told police they demanded drugs, weapons and money before spraying the men with bullets, and she said one of the killers wore a ski mask and a garment with the word "police" printed on it. Ramirez, who said there might have been four to five assailants, added they had no suspects as of Sunday night. Police say the fact that gunmen wore either a T-shirt or jacket bearing the word "police" is not uncommon here. In the past four to five years they have reported an increase in pseudo-cop incidents. "This has been one of the most horrible crimes in my 22 years of law enforcement here in our city. This has been one of the worse homicides I have worked," Ramirez said. "If we do catch anyone, they will be charged with capital murder." mrhernandez@express-news.net
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