HUFFMAN, Texas – A mudding trip with two couples ended with an argument and a murder-suicide near Huffman early Sunday, deputies said.
The shooting happened about 4:50 a.m. at a home in the 3600 block of Kennington Court.
Harris County deputies said it appears that Austin Smith and his girlfriend were visiting Coby Rigsby and his girlfriend, who live in the neighborhood just north of Huffman, to go mudding.
When the couples returned from the trip, deputies said, Rigsby began arguing with his girlfriend and Smith intervened. Deputies said Rigsby pulled out a gun and Smith and his girlfriend left.
Deputies said Smith returned later to retrieve his four-wheeler. While he was loading it onto a trailer down the street from Rigsby's house, Rigsby shot and killed him.
Deputies said that when they arrived at the scene, they were told where to locate Rigsby. Deputies said that when they tried to confront him, he shot and killed himself.
"When the deputies tried to make contact with that subject, they heard a gunshot inside the house," said Sgt. Ben Bell, of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. "When they made entry into the house, they discovered the suspect deceased inside the house from an apparent gunshot wound."
Both Smith and Rigsby died at the scene.
Deputies said that because of the nature of the shooting, the incident is being investigated as an in-custody death.