An entire Texas family is dead after a Galveston murder-suicide during which a mother allegedly killed herself, her husband and two young sons.
According to KTRK, the family, reportedly from Baytown, checked into the iconic San Luis Resort on Sunday evening.
Early Monday, however, guests reported hearing "pops" from their eighth-floor room at the hotel.
Hotel authorities said they dispatched police to the room, who said they found a man and two children in the bed, unresponsive, and a woman on the floor who also appeared to be shot.
Police pronounced the man, later identified as 39-year-old Mauricio Morales, and one of the boys dead at the scene.
The mother, whom a neighbor of the family identified as Flor De Maria Pineda De Canas, 37, and another child were transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital, where police said they both later died.
Witnesses further said the two boys, ages 10 and 5, attended Victoria Walker Elementary School, and the Goose Creek ISD released the following in a statement:
“The tragic circumstances surrounding these students’ deaths are almost too much to bear. A student death can have a ripple effect on a school community and, because of this and out of concern for the students’ classmates and the campus faculty, we will have additional counseling services at the school. We are grieving for the loss of young life and its infinite possibilities and we pray for the family, friends and students most affected by this tragedy.”
While police said they are searching for a motive for the killings, they also said they are not looking for suspects.
Landry's Inc., which owns the hotel, also offered a statement about the incident:
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their family members during this difficult time. We are still gathering information about this isolated incident, however it appears to have been a murder suicide amongst a family in their room,” said Paul Schultz, vice president of Hospitality for Landry’s Inc.“We are fully cooperating with the police department during their investigation and will assist them in any way we can.”
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