Crime Texas Man Shoots Estranged Wife, 4-Year-Old Daughter and Mother-in-Law in Murder-Suicide: Police Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the man and woman appeared to be going through a divorce By Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Twitter Website Jen Juneau is a News and Movies Staff Writer at PEOPLE. She started at the brand in 2016 and has more than 15 years' professional writing experience. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 20, 2022 10:38AM EDT Share Tweet Pin Email Several members of a family, including a 4-year-old girl, are dead after a murder-suicide in Texas. The Harris County Sheriff's Office reported the tragedy Thursday, revealing that law enforcement responded to a scene at an apartment that day, where they discovered "four persons confirmed deceased inside." A pistol was recovered at the scene, where HCSO said "it appears estranged husband showed up at his wife's apartment unit this morning." "The male shot his wife, 4-yr-old daughter and his mother-in-law, then turned the gun on himself," the sheriff's office said in their Facebook post. "All 4 pronounced deceased at the scene." "South Asian family, husband and wife had been going through a divorce in recent months," the post concluded. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Scene after May 19, 2022, murder-suicide in Harris County, Texas. KHOU 11/Youtube Fla. Nurse Who "Inspired So Many" Shot to Death by Firefighter in Apparent Murder-Suicide Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a media briefing on Thursday evening that "there's definitely a domestic-violence nexus to" the incident. "It appears that for several months now, at least, this couple has possibly been going through divorce proceedings or some type of formal separation," said Gonzalez during the briefing, held outside the apartment complex. "There has been a history of some ongoing issues between the two — more recently, [there has been] an allegation where the adult male possibly injured the young child, that would be his daughter," Gonzalez continued. "So we're definitely gonna look into that as well. Gonzalez shared that according to a recent report, the man "possibly slash(ed)" his estranged wife's "car tires," which will also be looked into. "Law enforcement was already on the scene" when the wife didn't show up for work Thursday morning, the sheriff said. "From the apparent observations that I just made right now, it appears that she was perhaps getting ready to go to work with the child when [she was] most likely confronted by the male party," Gonzalez added.