Texas girl who shot her father and then herself has died, authorities say

By Claire Colbert and Amanda Musa, CNN

A 12-year-old Texas girl accused of shooting her father and then herself as a part of a murder plot with another child died two days following the incident, the Parker County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

Authorities said the incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. on September 20 at a home in Weatherford, Texas, in northwest Parker County, which is about 40 miles west of Fort Worth.

Investigators believe the girl shot her father before fleeing the scene and shooting herself, authorities said. A handgun was found lying underneath the girl.

“The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy and ruled the cause and manner of death as a suicide by gunshot wound of head,” the Facebook post said.

The girl’s 38-year-old father was found inside the family’s home with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, authorities said. He has since been released from the hospital and is expected to recover, according to CNN affiliate KSAT. CNN has reached out about his condition.

Meanwhile, a second 12-year-old girl investigators believe was involved with the planning of the shooting has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, according to the sheriff’s office.

During their investigation, authorities discovered the 12-year-old from Weatherford had “planned for several weeks to murder her family and pets and had been in contact with another juvenile female from Lufkin, TX, regarding the murder plot,” the Sheriff’s Office said. Lufkin is more than 200 miles southeast of Parker County.

According to investigators, the girl in Lufkin had also planned to kill her father but did not go through with the plan. After the murders, the girls had planned to drive to Georgia, authorities said.

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