Father and 2 Children Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide

Police in North Richland Hills, Texas are investigating the apparent murder-suicide of a father and his two young children.

Early Saturday morning, the mother of the children discovered the 5-year-old girl, 9-year-old boy, and their father dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Police responded to a shooting call shortly after and the mother allegedly had to be taken away from the scene in an ambulance, Fort Worth Star Telegram reports.

Tanner Franklin, who lives across the street from the house where the crime took place, said that he heard a strange noise at around 6:30 that morning, stating that he and his girlfriend “heard some weird like yelp-type thing. She was like, ‘Did you hear that?’ I thought it was an animal or something.”

Authorities said that an initial investigation suggests that the father shot and killed his two children before turning the gun on himself, though they are not sure what led to the murder-suicide. Authorities claimed that there was no prior history of 911 calls with the family.

Neighbors were also surprised by the murder-suicide, one neighbor telling reporters that she had seen the family setting out Christmas decorations just days before and that there had never been any indication of trouble.

The identities of the victims have not been released. Police are still investigating.