Texas Man Kills Six – Four Were His Own Children

SPRING, Texas — A father opened fire at a suburban Houston home Wednesday, killing four of his childrenas well as two adults who were with them, and critically wounding his 15-year-old daughter, authorities said.

The teenager was able to call 911 and later warned deputies that her father planned to go to her grandparents’ home to kill them, said Deputy Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s department said precinct deputy constables were called to the house in the northern Houston suburb of Spring about 6 p.m. Wednesday and found two adults and three children dead. Another child later died at a hospital.

Killed were two boys, ages 4 and 14; two girls, ages 7 and 9; a 39-year-old man; and a 33-year-old woman, said Deputy Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The gunman and his wife are estranged, and she lives out of state, Gilliland said. All of the children were theirs. Two of the dead children were adopted, he said.

“It appears this stems from a domestic issue with a breakup in the family from what our witness has told us,” Assistant Chief Deputy Constable Mark Herman of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office told reporters. He did not explain further.

Gliland said the teenager was in “very critical condition” at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston late Wednesday night.

After the 15-year-old survivor told deputies that her father was headed to her grandparents’ home, they were able to pass along the warning, he said.

Authorities said the teen’s information also helped them intercept the suspect. The suspected gunman then led authorities on a chase, with nearly two dozen deputy constables’ patrol cars following him into a cul-de-sac shortly before 7 p.m. There, the suspect’s boxed-in vehicle remained for hours. Finally, about 10 p.m., after hours of waiting and negotiations, the man emerged from his car, raised his hands and sank to his knees as deputies placed him under arrest.