Couple both shot in the head, with toddler in home in NW Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A double shooting rocked a quiet northwest Houston street Wednesday morning.

Police were called to a home at Bingle and Feldspar just before 9:00 where they found a man and woman in the front bedroom with gunshot wounds to the head, and a toddler in another room.

"The sister was hysterical going back and forth screaming 'somebody call 911,'" says Elizabeth Garcia.

Garcia lives across the street from the house. She's the one who called 911.

"The dispatcher asked if they were still breathing. So I had to go in there and see if they were still breathing, which they were gasping for air," Garcia tells us.

It's an image she says she'll never forget.

"The wife was laying in her bed. She was still in her pajamas. The man was in the floor. The gun was on the floor. He was gagging on his own blood, but he was still trying to breathe."

HPD says 41-year-old Rutilio Maldonado Aguirre and 26 year old Erika Benitez Romero were both found with gunshot wounds to the head. Their elementary-aged child was at school at the time, but their toddler was in another room.

"The baby is OK. As far as we know, there was no blood or anything on the baby," says Det. Latonia Bailey.

Det. Bailey says it's unclear who shot who.

"I can tell you this: The male made a phone call to the sister advising her that she needed to come over because something had happened at the location," Bailey said.

Benitez was pronounced dead at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Aguirre was taken to Ben Taub where his condition is unclear. HPD says he's in critical condition, but hospital officials tell us he's not there.

"It's real sad because no there's going to be two babies without their parents," Garcia adds.

Det. Bailey says there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle. Investigators believe this was domestic and that nobody else in the neighborhood is in danger.