texas

Man Kills Ex-Wife, Granddaughter in Double Murder-Suicide: Sheriff's Department

An North Texas man killed his ex-wife and granddaughter before turning the gun on himself as two others fled the home Monday afternoon, investigators say.

Sgt. Jacob Smith with the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday afternoon that 68-year-old Terry Combs fatally shot his ex-wife, 67-year-old Brenda Combs, and his 20-year-old granddaughter, Fawn Combs, inside their home in Van.

Smith said Combs' 38-year-old daughter Dawn called 911 at about 5:15 p.m. and told dispatchers her father had a pistol and was threatening to shoot her mother.

Dawn told police she had been inside her family's home on the 100 block of Private Road 8504 with her father, mother and two daughters, Fawn and an unnamed juvenile, when her father pulled out a weapon.

Dawn and her juvenile daughter escaped the home and and called for help. She told police as she ran from the home she heard gunshots coming from the direction of the house.

Moments later officers with the Van Police Department and Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office arrived and established a perimeter around the home. After Texas State Troopers and SWAT officers arrived, they entered the home and discovered the bodies of three adults, later identified as Brenda, Fawn and Terry.

Investigators later confirmed Brenda and Fawn were victims of homicide while Terry died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

All three were transported to Forensic Medical of Texas in Tyler for autopsies.

Police said though they were divorced, the couple still lived together at the residence with Dawn and her two daughters.

Smith said a search of Van Zandt Sheriff's Office records showed one previous call in 2010 for an assault and other civil and medical calls to the residence.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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