A 40-year-old mother, Latasha Nicole Washington, is suspected of fatally shooting her two young children before killing herself in a hotel room in south-west Houston, Texas. Police believe the deaths were a murder-suicide and have indicated that mental health issues appear to have been a factor. The case is a distressing example of family violence involving very young victims.

Washington was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound alongside her six-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son at the Marriott Residence Inn. Staff discovered the bodies on Friday after no one in the room had been heard from since the previous Wednesday, and the medical examiner recorded the time of death as 11.55am on Friday, when police viewed the scene, although exactly when they died remains unclear. Washington had grown up in Houston, where she had a large extended family, and her last listed address was a house owned by her parents about seven miles from the hotel. The children's names have not yet been confirmed and their father is not known. Houston Police say their investigation is continuing.