SAN ANTONIO – A man and woman who died in a murder-suicide at a Northeast Bexar Count home earlier this week have been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Ardel Julius Couch, 26, and Stephanie Giselle Garcia, 23, both died of gunshot wounds on Wednesday at their home in the 7000 block of Hickory Ridge, not far from O’Connor Road.
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According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, the shooting was the result of a domestic violence-type incident.
Deputies were called around 1:15 a.m. after receiving word from a woman saying she had been shot.
“Dispatched called back, a male answered and verified that he indeed shot a female within the residence and that his intent was to shoot her again and then kill himself,” Salazar said.
BCSO said the dispatcher tried to convince the man not to shoot, but he instead hung up. When Converse police and deputies arrived, they heard two gunshots inside the home.
Authorities forced entry into the house and that’s when they found the man dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The woman was shot twice in the lower part of her body and was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, but she later died, BCSO said.
Salazar on Wednesday implored anyone in a harmful or potentially dangerous relationship to not wait and to ask for help.
To contact the Family Violence Prevention Services, the crisis hotline is 210-733-8810. Find more resources for victims of domestic violence here.