Parker County, Texas
A man and his daughter were hospitalized last week after the child shot him, say deputies. Now investigators claim to have uncovered a patricidal murder plot involving another girl.
Deputies said they were called out Tuesday evening at around 11:30 p.m. to a residence in northwest Parker County. The county is west of Fort Worth and Dallas.
According to the sheriff’s office, investigators found a 12-year-old girl in the street suffering from what seemed to be a gunshot wound to her head. Her father was found inside their home with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. First responders took them to local hospitals by air ambulance.
Investigators determined this was not only an attempted murder-suicide, but also a wider murder patricidal murder plot. They did not immediately go into detail about the daughter’s and father’s respective prognosis.
“Sheriff’s investigators said the juvenile is believed to have shot her father, fled the scene, and later shot herself,” deputies said. “A handgun was located lying underneath the juvenile suspect. Sheriff’s CID members discovered during their investigation that the juvenile suspect had planned for several weeks to murder her family and pets and had been in contact with another juvenile female from Lufkin, TX, regarding the murder plot. The other juvenile female had also planned to murder her father, but did not go through with the plan. The pair had then planned for the Weatherford [Parker County] juvenile to drive to Lufkin, pick up the second juvenile suspect and run away together to Georgia.”
Lufkin, Texas, is further off in the eastern part of the state in Angelina County. Cops there are also investigating. The girl in Lufkin is charged with criminal conspiracy regarding the murder plot, authorities said.
The sheriff office said they do not identify juvenile suspects, and with that in mind, they are not releasing the adults’ names in order to protect their names.
The investigation is ongoing but in its early stages, said Parker County Sheriff Russ Authier.
“Due to the injuries, the age of the juveniles and the sensitive case matter, information released regarding this case will be limited,” he said.
“Because we’re here in Lufkin, we have boots on the ground here, so to speak,” Lufkin city spokesperson Jessica Pebsworth told KXAS. “And so we were able to work in partnership with Parker County, go out, make contact with that suspect, collect the preliminary interviews that they needed.”
“We would like to take a moment to remind parents that it is so important to know who their children’s friends are — whether at school, on social media, and even online gaming platforms,” Lufkin police said in a Facebook post about the incident.
The department and Parker County deputies did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for more information.
[Screenshot via KXAS]