Gunman Dressed as Santa Slaughters Family on Christmas
Police find seven dead amid unwrapped presents in suburban Texas apartment.
| Posted Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, at 1:42 PM
Photograph by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.
A Texas man dressed as Santa Claus appears to have opened fire on his own family and then killed himself, leaving seven dead amid a pile of presents on Christmas Day.
Police believe the man showed up as the family was opening gifts, according to MSNBC. Authorities got a 911 call from the apartment Sunday morning but heard only silence on the line. When they showed up, they found four women and three men, all dead.
The slaughter happened in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb that was recently deemed the state’s “Christmas Capital” for its numerous holiday-season festivals.
The victims were two couples in their fifties and three young adults, ages 22, 19, and 17, police said. All of them appeared to be related. Their identities were scheduled to be released following autopsies Monday.
