A Texas City elementary school principal and her husband, an assistant principal at a middle school in Spring, were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at their home.
The woman, identified as 35-year-old Erica Rene Allen, was found shot dead and facedown Wednesday night in a neighbor’s yard in League City, police told KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston.
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The Texas City Independent School District told KPRC that Allen was a principal at Heights Elementary School.
Her husband, 40-year-old Nicholas Allen, was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the home, where their 2- and 7-year-old children were discovered unharmed.
The Spring Independent School District later confirmed to KPRC that Nicholas Allen worked as an assistant principal at Wells Middle School.
According to League City police, witnesses saw him shoot her before going back inside.
The two children were inside the home when the shootings happened, police said, but they were safe. They were carried out to an ambulance by members of the combined area response tactical team.
League City police said investigators believe it was a matter of domestic violence and not an intrusion.
KPRC reported that court documents revealed Erica Allen had petitioned for a divorce and filed for a temporary restraining order against Nicholas Allen last summer.
Officers were first called around 10 p.m. Wednesday to the couple’s home in the 400 block of Westwood Drive for a report of a possible home invasion involving a woman shot and children taken hostage.
That’s when they found Erica Allen dead, KPRC reported. No one from inside the home responded to police officers’ commands and members of the combined area response tactical team entered the house, finding the children and Nicholas Allen’s body.
Neighbor Brandon Schilter told KPRC that he was shocked by the news of the couple, who he knew.
“We had BBQ’s with them, we would drink beer together, we had fires in the fire pit, totally blown away,” Schilter said.
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