BAY CITY, Texas — Laura Gonzalez was happy to be back at work at a Mexican restaurant after three weeks away that included a stay at a battered women's shelter. She saw it as the beginning of a new life. One without her husband and the father of her four children, she told co-workers. She wasn't going back to him this time, she said, and left for home.
Less than an hour later, her 24-year-old husband, Jose Avila, launched a brutal final assault. First he shot his wife three times. Then, he began shooting the children. Avila's final act was to kill himself.
Two of the children, aged 2 and 4, died at a hospital Thursday, a day after their two siblings, 3 and 5, were killed in the shooting that rattled the small southeast Texas town of Bay City. Their mother remains hospitalized.
The family had moved into the trailer home near Bay City's Western-style downtown about a year ago, neighbors said. They appeared to live a quiet life.
But as details trickled out, a picture emerged Thursday of a family long struggling with violence, including an assault reported by Gonzalez just before Thanksgiving. After that, she went to a battered women's shelter.
Bay City Lt. Andrew Lewis said she refused to press charges.
Police have not officially released the names of the victims, but co-workers and neighbors identified Avila's wife as Laura Gonzalez.
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