Father Kills Six, Including Four of His Children, in Shooting Rampage in Texas
A gunman has killed six people, including four of his children, in a shooting rampage at a Houston, Texas suburb, before surrendering to police Wednesday night following hours-long standoff.
Fox News reported that the suspect has been identified as 34-year-old Ron Lee Haskell. The victims include two boys aged four and 14, two girls aged seven and nine, along with a 39-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman.
Haskell's 15-year-old daughter was also wounded in the shooting, but she was able to call 911, and warned police that the man also planned to go to her grandparents' home. The deputies managed to beat the suspect to the location, however, after which the standoff began.
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The teenager was said to be in a "very critical condition" Wednesday night at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
Precinct deputy constables were called to the house in the northern Houston suburb of Spring about 6 pm where they found the two adults and three children dead. Another child later died at a hospital.
"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 said.
Deputy Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff's Office added that the children belonged to Haskell and his wife, though the couple were estranged and the wife was out of state at the time of the shooting. Two of the children, whose names were not yet released, are said to be adopted. It was also not clear what relationship the two adult victims had with the suspect.
Gilliland noted that during the standoff, Haskell appeared "cool as a cucumber," and was sitting in his car looking out at police. He said that the standoff was "two hours of constant talking with a man armed with a pistol to his head and who had just killed six people."
A law enforcement official added that Haskell "was in the car for three-and-a-half hours. He was worn down like the rest of us. He came out of the car without resistance."
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hickman added that the suspect would be charged with multiple counts of capital murder, CBS News reported.
The man was reportedly arrested wearing a pullover FedEx shirt, but investigators could not yet confirm whether he works for FedEx or not.
