3 dead in affluent Texas suburb after marriage goes sour
HASLET, Texas -- A shooting in the northwest Tarrant County town of Haslet ended with one person dead on Thursday and two others losing their fight for life at the hospital, CBS Dallas Fort Worth reports.
The gunplay was apparently the result of a heated marriage break-up.
The sheriff says husband, James Morris, went to his house just after 2:30 a.m. Thursday and as neighbors slept, shot his estranged wife and her lover.
“When I woke up this morning I opened my window of my door and I seen a body bag coming out of the house,” neighbor Dan Fracassi Sr. said. “I mean, it was like, ‘I’m from New York. And I see things like that. But but out here?’ I didn’t expect to see body bags coming out of the house next door. It was tragic.”
According to the Tarrant County Sheriff, James Morris violated a restraining order when he went to the house to confront Michelle Morris, 50, and James K. Brantley, 24.
“It appears that they had an intimate relationship, an affair going on,” said Sheriff Bill Waybourn. “The husband did not live there. He was estranged from them. In fact there have been issues in the past. And I think they were about to go through a divorce.”
Investigators said Morris, 53, shot his wife and Brantley in the head and then turned the gun on himself.
Brantley was pronounced dead on the scene. James Morris died later the same day and Michelle Morris was pronounced dead early Friday morning.
The sheriff said Michelle Morris met Brantley through one of her children.
Neighbors described the Morrises as friendly, often hosting pool parties for area teenagers.
“Yeah, things started happening,” Fracassi recalled. “You know, police were over there quite a bit. James and his wife were arguing.”
The sheriff’s department reports multiple calls to the house for domestic violence. The children were released to the care of a grandparent.
The Sheriff’s Office isn’t seeking any other suspects in the case for now.
