Kids tell police their dad shot their mom before officers discover body, Texas cops say
A pair of children who appeared to be beaten wandered a street in Texas before telling officers something deadly had happened to their mother, police said.
Police were called to check out a “male assaulting children in the street” in a southeast Houston neighborhood, the department’s assistant chief Wyatt Martin said in a Dec. 15 news conference. When police arrived, they noticed two children with “apparent trauma” from being beaten, he said.
Officers also saw the man had climbed on the rooftop of a house, Martin said, and he was taken into custody for questioning.
One of the children, presumed to be the eldest, told officers their father had shot their mother, police said. The two children led police to a home about a block away that had its front door left open, Martin said.
In one of the back rooms of the home, police found a woman shot dead with at least one gunshot wound to her upper body, Martin said.
While looking through the home, officers also found a third child, about 3 or 4 years old, with similar injuries to the other two children, Martin said. All three children are believed to be siblings who lived in the house, the assistant chief said.
The three children, between the ages of about 3 and 10, all had varying levels of blunt force injuries caused by either a “fist or an object,” Martin said. None of the children had been shot, he added.
The youngest child, who was found in the house, had the most severe injuries, according to the assistant chief.
They were taken to the hospital after police arrived, and Martin said all three remained conscious while being transported.
The man in custody, whom the children referred to as their father, was “not necessarily cooperative” when he was detained, Martin said. He and the victim were in their mid-30s, according to police.
The shooting was possibly the result of domestic violence, Martin said, which he called an “extremely tragic situation.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Kids tell police their dad shot their mom before officers discover body, Texas cops say."
