Texas man charged with murder of three children

Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Authorities charged a 27-year-old man with two counts of capital murder Friday after three young children were found dead and their mother injured in a Houston-area home.

Junaid Hashim Mehmood was held at the Galveston County Jail on two counts of capital murder and one count of aggravated assault for the Thursday attack in Texas City, about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office said the three children died of multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma. They were identified as 1-month-old Ashanti Mehmood, 1-year-old Prince Larry Brown and 5-year-old Angela Pilot.

Mehmood was the father of the youngest child and Kimaria Nelson, 24, was the mother of all three.

The Texas City Police Department said Nelson also sustained blunt force trauma and was shot multiple times in the face and head with a high-powered pellet gun. She was hospitalized at University of Texas Medical Branch Health's John Sealy Hospital.

Nelson was in stable condition but had been unable to talk to authorities.

On Thursday night, Mehmood called authorities and said he killed his children and tried to kill his wife, a police official told The Houston Chronicle. He told them he was unarmed and gave his address.

"It's a very intense scene over there. Everybody involved is either deceased or injured," Texas City police spokesman Lt. Kenneth Brown said.

In 2014, Mehmood was arrested for hitting a girlfriend and served 20 days in jail. His conviction barred him from owning or possessing a firearm. In 2015, he was arrested after robbing a family member. That same year, he was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to a separate robbery charge.