After allegedly shooting his son, a man in Grand Prairie has died in an apparent murder-suicide alongside his wife, police said Monday. An officer was also injured.
The incident occurred in a quiet neighborhood full of single-family homes, most still decked with Christmas decorations.
About 10 p.m. Sunday, Grand Prairie officers responded to a family violence call in the 1600 block of Avenue B. According to a Grand Prairie police news release, a man had reported that his father shot him in the face after the son intervened in a fight between his parents. The son fled to a neighbor’s home and called 911.
When officers arrived, they tried to contact the suspect but were unable to reach him. Police said officers, knowing a woman was still inside the home, forced open the front door.
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The officers were met with gunfire from a rifle and returned fire, police said in the release. The man fled further into the home. He was found in a bathroom with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman was found in a bedroom shot multiple times. She was also pronounced dead at the scene. Police did not release the identities of those involved.
The son was transported to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, police said.
A woman peers around the corner at Grand Prairie police crime scene investigators working at a home in the 1600 block of Avenue B in Grand Prairie, Dec. 29, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
An officer suffered minor injuries after they were struck by ricochet gunfire, police said. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment. No other officers were injured in the incident, police said.
On Monday morning, a Grand Prairie mobile command unit and a few police cruisers still surrounded the scene, and the area was blocked off with crime scene tape. A SWAT truck was seen directly in front of the home with a vehicle in the driveway.
Neighbors could be seen walking in and out of their homes with hats, coats and coffee mugs to keep themselves warm in the roughly 35-degree weather.
They’d take a peek at the crime scene, see what police were doing, then go back indoors for warmth, before repeating the cycle minutes later.
Grand Prairie Police Crime Scene investigators document a SWAT armored vehicle at a home in the 1600 block of Ave B in Grand Prairie, Texas, December 29, 2025. A man and woman are dead in an apparent murder-suicide, police said Monday, in an incident that left their son and a police officer wounded.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
The area has been an active crime scene for nearly 14 hours and counting.
Patricia Zavala, 49, and her two children walked out of their home to see if anything had changed from the night prior.
Just doors away, they all heard the entire incident — gunshots included.
The family’s Ring camera caught the sound of constant gunshots ringing through air, as well as a parked Grand Prairie police vehicle near the home.
It scared them, the family said.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this in the neighborhood,” the daughter, Karina Perez, 27, said.
Grand Prairie Police Crime Scene investigators work at a home in the 1600 block of Ave B in Grand Prairie, Texas, December 29, 2025. Bullet holes appear in a vehicle parked in the driveway. A man and woman are dead in an apparent murder-suicide, police said Monday, in an incident that left their son and a police officer wounded.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Perez said they were already in bed when the incident occurred around 10 p.m. They didn’t see much, but heard everything, she said.
“We started seeing a bunch of cops and flashing lights. Then … we started seeing more cops show up, a bunch of lights [and] like five police cars,” she said. “I think it was around maybe 1:20 a.m., we heard a lot of gunshots — like more than 20. And then we also saw the SWAT team showed up.”
The son, Aaron Zavala, 20, said that was around the same time they received calls from their neighbor who lives next to the house where the shooting occurred.
Perez said this is the first time something like this happened, and she’s hoping it’s the last. The family said they did not know the suspect or the victims.
The Dallas County district attorney’s office’s officer‐involved shooting team responded to the active crime scene and will conduct an independent investigation in accordance with department policy, Grand Prairie police said. The Grand Prairie Police Department’s office of professional standards will conduct a concurrent administrative investigation as well.
The Grand Prairie shooting is the fifth officer-involved shooting in just over a week in North Texas. The others were in Lake Worth, Mesquite, Haslet and McKinney.