KATY, Texas – A man sent a text message to his teenage son before he shot and killed his wife and then himself, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The murder-suicide was reported around 12:30 p.m. at a home on Little Pine Lane, near the intersection of Greenhouse and West Little York roads.
Gonzalez said dispatchers received a 911 call from a 16-year-old boy, who reported hearing gunshots in his home. He said that when he went downstairs, he found both his mother and father had been shot.
The sheriff said deputies arrived and found the married couple, who were in their 40s dead at the scene.
“It’s still preliminary that he, the father, may have sent some message right prior to the shooting to the son, just, basically, advising him, ‘Take care of,’ you know, ‘your brother,’ or something, just a general message like that, and that’s when everything went down,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said investigators have been told that the couple may have been having marital issues for a while.
“With the increase in murders that we’ve had this year, the biggest category has been as a result of domestic violence,” Gonzalez said.
The sheriff encouraged people to watch for the warnings signs of domestic violence and seek professional help to resolve issues that families may be experiencing.
The identity of the man and woman was not immediately released.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the surviving family. You can donate here.
You can watch a replay of Gonzalez’s news conference below.