May 16 (UPI) -- A Texas man shot his ex-wife, her boyfriend and three children before taking his own life, police said Tuesday.
The ex-wife was the lone survivor of the shooting but remains in critical condition.
The shooting took place at a home in Ponder, Texas, located about 33 miles north of Fort Worth. Police did not release the names of the victims.
Capt. Orlando Hinojosa of the Denton County Sheriff's Office confirmed to local media that the incident was a murder-suicide.
"I want to pray for the victims of the deceased family," Hinojosa said, according to the Dallas Morning News.
News of the murder-suicide shocked residents of the suburban town with a population of less than 1,400 people.
"I felt like I lived in a safe neighborhood," local resident Dianna Booker told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Mary Jean Dennis, who lives near where the shooting took place, told the Denton Record-Chronicle that she saw the children minutes before police were called to the home where the shooting took place.
"I walked passed all three of the kids, and they said, 'Good morning,' and just looked at me," Dennis said. "Had I known the man was going to go in there and do that, I would have stopped. And I'm thinking why did I not know? Why didn't I sense that something was going to happen?"
