Two women were killed in an apparent murder-suicide early Friday morning in a north Houston apartment complex, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
Police responded to the Venti apartments in the 14300 block of Ella Blvd just after 6:45 a.m. for a weapons call and confirmed the two occupants of the apartment were deceased.
Homicide investigators were en route to the scene just after 7 a.m.
In an update from Sergeant Dennis Wolfford, shared by ABC 13 in Houston, police say one of the women told a dispatcher that she got into a fight with her partner over a gun. She told police the weapon accidentally went off, shooting her partner in the head.
While on the phone with the dispatcher, the woman said she could not live with killing her partner. The dispatcher then heard a gunshot, according to Wolfford.
Deputies found the two women with gunshot wounds in the apartment.
The victim’s 9-year-old niece was inside the apartment when the first shot was fired, according to authorities. The child left the apartment just before the second gunshot.
It is unclear if the girl saw either shooting.
Police confirmed one death at the apartment complex. Medical personnel confirmed the second woman died later at a hospital, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez shared.
Sheriff’s deputies interviewed the niece and determined the shooting was not an accident. The little girl told police she heard her aunt say she wanted to kill her partner, Wolfford said.
The niece was in town from New Orleans, visiting her aunt, and had been in Houston about a week, deputies said.