Police said evidence indicated the 40-year-old woman fatally shot the two 4-year-olds before dying by suicide.
HOUSTON — A woman and her two 4-year-old children were found dead from gunshot wounds inside a southwest Houston hotel room July 3 in what police said appeared to be a murder-suicide.
The Houston Police Department identified the victims only as a 40-year-old woman, a juvenile girl and a juvenile boy. Their names had not been released pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Police said evidence found inside the room indicated the woman shot the children before shooting herself.
Officers were sent to the hotel at 7807 Kirby Drive at about 11:45 a.m. after workers entered the room and discovered the three unresponsive occupants. Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced all three dead at the scene, according to a police statement released July 6.
The address is occupied by a Residence Inn by Marriott near NRG Stadium and the Texas Medical Center. Local news reports said the family had checked into the hotel two days earlier and that workers went to the room after no one had heard from its occupants. The door was reportedly locked from the inside when hotel employees attempted to check the room.
Early reports from the scene described the children as a 9-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. Police later corrected those ages, saying both children were 4. The official police statement did not release further information about the children or explain why the earlier ages were incorrect.
Police initially described the case as an apparent murder-suicide based on evidence collected in the room. Investigators did not disclose when the shootings occurred, though officers said the deaths may have happened before the family was discovered Friday morning.
Houston Police Lt. Larry Crowson said during a briefing that hotel employees entered the room while checking on its occupants. Crowson said the circumstances appeared to involve mental health concerns, but police did not release evidence supporting a specific motive. Authorities also did not say why the family was staying at the hotel or how long they had planned to remain there.
The Police Department’s homicide division assigned Detectives W. Elliott and D. Hobson to investigate. Police did not announce that any other person was being sought in connection with the deaths, and the department’s July 6 statement described the woman as the suspected shooter.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences was expected to confirm the victims’ identities and determine their official causes and manners of death. Those findings had not been publicly released as of Saturday. Police also had not disclosed whether investigators recovered a note or other information that might explain what led to the deaths.
Authorities asked anyone with additional information about the case to contact the Houston Police Department’s homicide division. The investigation remained open as detectives awaited medical examiner findings and worked to establish a complete timeline.
Author note: Last updated July 11, 2026.