Patrick Crawford, Waco TV meteorologist and NIU alum, recovering from surgery after shooting

WACO, TX -- A Central Texas community is on edge as police search for the person who shot a popular TV weatherman.

The gunman is described as a white man with a bald head and some facial hair. He was last seen wearing a dark hoodie and dark pants. Police released a composite sketch of him Friday so residents in the Bruceville-Eddy area could put a face to this armed and dangerous man.

Police say the gunman shot KCEN meteorologist Patrick Crawford several times in the parking lot of the studio. Crawford escaped his shooter and crashed his car a short distance away.

Crawford, a Waco native, graduated from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, his Facebook and Twitter profiles say. At NIU, Crawford received his degree in meteorology with a double minor in mathematics and geography.

Crawford is recovering and doing well right now.

The gunman is still on the loose, and there are plenty of places to hide in abandoned homes, sheds and thick brush. Residents were told to lock their doors and be on the look out for the gunman.

"We've got a gun under the bed. I mean that's all we really can do. Lock the windows lock the doors," resident Nichole Chavez said.

"The doors stay completely locked. And if I see a car go by that I don't know that I don't know, I really just stay on alert," resident Enriqueta Sauseda said.

So far, police say they don't have any good leads. Crawford said he did not know his shooter.