GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - Six members of a Texas family apparently opened Christmas presents just before a relative dressed as Santa Claus showed up, opened fire and killed them before killing himself, police said Monday.
Grapevine police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling said the shooter was a member of the family who showed up in the Santa outfit shortly before gunfire erupted. The identity of the shooter and the victims will be released after autopsies are conducted Monday, he said.
Police went to the apartment midday Sunday after receiving a 911 call in which no one was on the other line. They found the bodies of four women and three men, aged 18 to 60. A motive for the shootings remains unclear.
Police confirm three of the victims included a mother and her teenage son and daughter, all of whom were living at the apartment where the shootings happened. Two other victims were from the nearby cities of Irving and Colleyville.
Investigators worked overnight, meticulously searching the apartment, along with three vehicles parked outside.
"It appears they had just celebrated Christmas. They had opened their gifts," Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said Sunday, adding that the apartment was decorated for the holiday, including a tree.
Two handguns were found near the bodies, and it appears that all six victims died of gunshot wounds, Eberling said. While authorities recovered two handguns from the apartment, they said they believe only one was used in the shootings.
Grapevine Police Lt. Todd Dearing said investigators believe that the victims were related, though some were visiting and didn't live in the apartment. He said police are looking for other relatives to inform of the deaths.
"Seven people in one setting in Grapevine, that's never happened before. Ever," Dearing said.
Police and firefighters first rushed to the Lincoln Vineyards complex after receiving the open-ended 911 call at about 11:30 a.m., Eberling said.
"There was an open line. No one was saying anything," he explained.
So police went to the apartment complex in Grapevine, not far from the Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville.
The Dallas Morning News reported the family was having financial troubles and that the mother moved into the Grapevine apartment after separating from her husband, who is still living in the family's Colleyville home a short distance away.
The family's Colleyville home went into foreclosure earlier this year in conjunction with the father's bankruptcy filing according to court records, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Neighbors said that the father had been living at the house and was seen just last week cleaning up leaves in the yard. They said the family lived there for at least 12 years.
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Associated Press writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this report.
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