Texas Murder-Suicide: Man Allegedly Kills Wife, Himself; Couple's 5 Children Safe Inside Home

Five children in Texas reportedly lost their parents in an incident the deputies are calling a murder-suicide case.

First responders arrived at the house near East Mount Houston Road in Northeast Harris County at around 1 a.m. on Saturday to find Arsenio Gonzalez, 45, and Maria Gonzalez, 42, lying dead on the front lawn of the residence. While Maria suffered blunt force trauma to the head, her husband was found with a gunshot wound on his head, ABC13 reported. Arsenio is believed to have shot himself, the deputies said.

Officials from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office found the five children, aged between 7 and 16, unharmed and safely inside the house. Authorities said the children did not witness the incident that unfolded outside the house.

They noted the parents had attended a family gathering before the tragedy took place. Once they returned home, Arsenio killed his wife, and then fatally shot himself.

“This couple, a man and wife were at a family function earlier. They came home and then this incident occurred, so the investigation is ongoing,” said Sgt. Greg Pinkins, NBC affiliate KPRC 2 reported. “None of the kids were injured, nor did they witness anything at the time.”

Sgt. Pinkins also mentioned the five children will most likely be placed in the care of a family member.

“Right now, we’re in contact with CPS and we’ll let them determine who they will be released to, probably family members,” Sgt. Pinkins said. “We’ll continue to do our investigation here and we’ll be talking to family members who were probably at the party to see if we can get some background.”

An investigation is being carried out to determine the events that triggered the murder-suicide.

In a similar incident, an Arkansas man allegedly fatally shot his wife and her child before killing himself in October. The incident came to light after the cops arrived at Bayou Vista Drive in Marion to conduct a welfare check. Two juveniles at the scene told them about hearing gunshots from inside the house. The police then found the bodies of two adults, who were identified as Gabriel Brown and Nakina Gilmer-Brown, inside the home The body of a child was also found at the scene. “It’s devastating news. Something we can’t really fathom. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it. Just don’t understand why,” Charles Gilmer, one of the victims’ uncle, said. Authorities at the time confirmed the incident was a murder-suicide case, and were investigating a possible motive.