A 25-year-old Texas man was arrested after his aunt and grandmother were found shot to death in two separate locations in Harris County overnight.
A 12-year-old girl called 911 late Wednesday night and said her cousin had killed her mother and grandmother, raped her, and was now sleeping.
Harris County deputies were already at another location, where a witness had called to report a dead woman in the parking lot of an abandoned Chase Bank drivethru facility just a few miles from the other scene.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said they were initially called by the custodian of a business near the bank. She told detectives that she hear gunshots at about 9:30 p.m., and when her son came to pick her up later, she had had check the parking lot.
Deputies found the 66-year-old woman dead.
Then came the call from the 12-year-old girl, shortly before 3 a.m. Deputies arrived at the house, rescued the girl, and found a 42-year-old woman dead in a bedroom.
The 25-year-old suspect was armed with a firearm and a knife when he surrendered to the deputies. Investigators said a white pickup truck seen on surveillance video at the Chase Bank location was found in the driveway of the second crime scene.
Harris County Sgt. Ben Beall said it wasn’t clear what led to the shooting but that deputies had responded to “numerous calls for service over here to the residence — some of them including the cousin.”
“We understand that he has some drug issues and is not welcome over here at the house,” Beall said. “So how he came to be over at the house this evening, how long this has been going on, we don’t know at this point.”
Beall said it appeared the grandmother’s body had been taken to the bank property from the house, where she was shot. She had “additional trauma” on her body, he said, but could not provide details. The two women and the girl all lived at the house.
The 12-year-old victim was taken to a hospital, and investigators said they were awaiting a search warrant for the house.
Beall said investigators would be seeking two capital murder charges against the suspect and other charges related to the assault against the girl.
Deputies have not released the names of the victims or the suspect.
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[Featured image: KTRK screenshot]
