NORTHWEST HARRIS COUNTY, TX – A double fatality was reported on Monday, believed to be a murder-suicide that occurred over the weekend. Two women, aged 23 and 27, were discovered dead in their shared apartment in the Derby at Steeplechase Apartments, Northwest Harris County.
Neighbors called 911 at around 6 p.m. on Saturday after hearing gunshots and finding a bullet had impacted their apartment. The caller believed that the bullet had come from the neighboring apartment. When deputies arrived, they spoke with the affected resident, finding that the women’s apartment was secured with a deadbolt lock and privacy latch. Deputies refrained from forcing entry, despite the report, due to uncertainty about the source of the gunshot.
The situation escalated when the concerned resident again notified apartment management on Monday, prompting the dispatch of a courtesy officer. The officer spotted a body on the floor upon peering through a window. Consequently, law enforcement gained forced entry into the apartment. Inside, they discovered five shell casings, a gun, and both women dead in one of the bedrooms, despite evidence of activities across the apartment.
Ben Beall from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Division indicated that shell casings were found in two rooms of the large, two-bedroom apartment. The tragic scene moved the local community, with neighbor Clarissa Johnson expressing her intentions to pray for the families impacted by this tragedy.
The identities of the deceased women are yet to be disclosed.