COPPELL, Texas — A 21-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man have both died after an apparent murder-suicide outside a coffee shop in Old Town Coppell on Wednesday morning, police said.
The incident happened around 11:15 a.m. in front of George Coffee Shop and was believed to have stemmed from a "domestic situation," according to the Coppell Police Department.
According to the police department, officers arrived and found the woman, 21-year-old Caitlin Rogers, shot dead. Witnesses told officers that a man, later identified as 20-year-old Nicholas Twining, fired the gun and then ran.
Twining was found a few feet away with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. First responders rushed him to the hospital, but he later died.
A nearby elementary school was placed on lockout for a little more than a half hour Wednesday as police investigated the shooting, but all students and staff were safe, officials said. A lockout means the doors are locked, no visitors are allowed and the school day goes on as normal, according to district officials.
Several customers told WFAA they were inside the George coffee shop at the time and heard the gunfire. One neighbor said they thought a transformer blew out.
Cliff Long owns the cottage next to George.
He and his wife were inside their offices when he said he heard one shot followed by another about 10 seconds later.
Police removed a bullet that had been lodged in the siding of Long's office.
"One inch this way or one inch that way and it could have been a real disaster," he said.
"There is a courtyard outside where folks were sitting and drinking coffee that's within 15 steps of where she fell, so it could have been much, much worse," he told WFAA.
According to police, Rogers and Twining were former college roommates, but no other relationship between the two has been established. No motive has been established, either.
The investigation continues.