By Bud Gillett - CBSlocal.com

March 15, 2013

MESQUITE (CBS 11 NEWS)  - Mesquite police say there was no note explaining why Angelica Vazquez shot her husband and two adult children before committing suicide.

They say they found a 9mm handgun near her body in a master bedroom.

Few other details of the investigation are being revealed.

Mesquite ISD confirms that Angelica Vasquez was a cafeteria worker at an elementary school from 2005 until she resigned in at the end of the school year in May 2012.

Her husband Marcelo was a long-haul truck driver.  Her children were college students.

Paulina Vazquez, 21, spent a year at Eastfield College before transferring to UNT, where she was majoring in criminal justice.   She lived off-campus, but had come home to Mesquite for spring break.

Her brother, Alejandro, 19, was in his second semester at Eastfield. He also worked at a local Blockbuster store. Co-workers are not allowed to go on-camera, but had good things to say about him. They were alarmed when he failed to show for a shift.  When they drove by his house and saw police, they learned the worst.

Christa Rogers was one of many who brought flowers today.  She will especially miss “Alex,” as friends called him.

“He could literally light up a room. He was so friendly, he was a sweet person,” she said, “but he was just so sweet, it was just a huge shock. Everyone around here loved him”

Meantime, memorial services for the family are moving forward.

The Gonzales Funeral Home, located at 1111 Military Parkway in Mesquite, will hold visitation Sunday afternoon from 2:00 until 8:00 p.m.   The phone number is 972-285-5489.

The family will be buried in Mexico.

Police: Mesquite mother in murders-suicide left no note

By Carla Wade and Monika Diaz - Wfaa.com

March 15, 2013

MESQUITE -- The Mesquite Police Department still has not released a final report on a family of four found shot to death inside their Mesquite home Wednesday.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office said Thursday it was Angelica Vasquez who shot and killed her husband and their two college-aged children before taking her own life.

Friday, police said the case was still under investigation, but did reveal that Vazquez left no suicide note. No motive or reason for the shootings has been revealed.

A memorial has sprung up outside the family’s home. Their mailbox was surrounded by stuffed animals and flowers. A note was posted saying there will be a memorial for the family on Sunday afternoon.

Besides one medical call, police said there had been no other calls to the home before someone called 911 last Saturday saying they heard gunshots.

Both kids, 21-year-old Paulina and 18-year-old Alex, had attended Eastfield College. The college's president, Jean Conway, posted the following statement on the school’s website:

"It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing of an Eastfield student, Alejandro "Alex" Roman Vazquez, 18, and his sister, Pauline Vazquez, 21, a UNT student who previously attended Eastfield. Alex and Pauline were among the four people shot in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday on Paintbrush Street in Mesquite.

Eastfield College's Counseling Services Department is available to assist in grief processing and grief recovery as needed.

Please keep those close to the Vazquez family in your thoughts and prayers."

Friends say Angelica Vazquez had undergone cancer treatments recently. News 8 also learned that she worked for the Mesquite Independent School District as a cafeteria aide until May of 2012.

ervices for the Vazquez family will be held from 2-8 p.m. Sunday at the Gonzalez Funeral Home at 1111 Military Pkwy in Mesquite.

Dallas County ME rules Mesquite deaths murder-suicide

By Matt Goodman, Davod Schechter and Jobin Panicker - Wfaa.com

March 14, 2013

The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled Thursday that 43-year-old wife and mother Angelica Vazquez shot and killed her husband and their two children before taking her own life in their Mesquite home.

The bodies were found Wednesday.

Three of the four victims were identified Thursday morning as Marcelo Vazquez, 44, and his children, Paulina Vazquez, 21, and Alejandro Vazquez, 18. Each death was classified as a homicide. 

Angelica Vazquez, 43, the mother of Alejandro and Paulina and wife to Marcelo, was identified in the afternoon and killed herself, the medical examiner said. 

A handgun was found on the floor near her body, said Bill Hedgpeth, spokesman for Mesquite PD. Investigators are still without a motive in the crime.

Below is our original report from Wednesday: 

MESQUITE — Four adults found dead inside a home in the 1400 block of Paintbrush Street Wednesday morning may have been there since Saturday, Mesquite Police Department spokesman Bill Hedgpeth said.

Late Wednesday, investigators said they needed more time before releasing the names of the two young adults and two mature adults.

Neighbors and friends confirmed to News 8 that the dead are a family of four.

Close friends said a male Eastfield College student who recently graduated from Mesquite High School and his sister, a 21-year-old University of North Texas student, are among the fatalities.

The friend said their parents were also dead; he was said to be a big rig trucker and she worked at a school.

An acquaintance said the mother had recently completed chemotherapy in a battle against cancer.

"I'm just shaking... I can't even express it right now," said Gustavo Herrera, a family friend.

"I don't even know how it happened. It doesn't make sense, really," said another friend, Jasmin Lechuga.

Officers were initially called to the address at 6:30 a.m. Saturday after witnesses said they heard gunshots.

"They checked the residence on the outside. There was no sign of forced entry and everything appeared to be okay," Lt. Hedgpeth said.

Hedgpeth said an officer spoke with a neighbor who did not report hearing or seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Officers left, but returned twice that day to try and get someone to open the door. Both attempts were unsuccessful.

On Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m, Hedgpeth said one of the same officers returned to the home and observed an important clue.

"They noticed mail in the mailbox that was uncollected and newspapers in the front yard," the police spokesman said. "The decision was made to force entry into the locked home, at which point the officers discovered the bodies."

The bodies of two men and two women were found in separate rooms. A handgun was recovered inside the residence "near one of the deceased," but police were hesitant to discuss details in the case, Hedgpeth said, citing the ongoing investigation. 

"At this point, the circumstances surrounding the deaths are undetermined," a police statement said.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner was at the scene.

Mother Kills Husband, Two Kids, Herself

By Bud Gillett - CBSlocal.com

March 14, 2013

MESQUITE (CBS 11 NEWS) – The deaths of four people found shot to death in Mesquite early Wednesday have now been ruled murder-suicide.  And it appears the family matriarch pulled the trigger.  The big question is, why?

Crime scene investigators and technicians were back for a second day, looking for evidence to explain why Angelica Vazquez took the lives of her husband and children... and then herself.

Rickey Moreland and other neighbors can’t believe an outwardly fine family would meet such a tragic end.

“I’m very surprised. This is unbelieveable. These are some great neighbors,” he told CBS 11 News.  “Sweet family... just really shocked, real nice family,” he added.

But Mesquite Police and the Dallas County Medical Examiner say 43-year-old Angelica Vazquez took her own life after killing her husband, Marcelo, 44, her 21-year-old daughter Paulina, and 18-year-old son Alejandro.

Marcelo is said to be a long-haul truck driver; Paulina was a sophomore at the University of North Texas studying criminal justice and living in Denton, but apparently came home during Spring Break. Alejandro was at his second semester at Eastfield College taking required preparatory courses for a 4-year degree, according to officials there.  Angelica reportedly worked for the Mesquite ISD, but officials with the district couldn’t confirm that due to computers being down during spring break.

Few in their East Mesquite neighborhood want to believe what’s happened.

“Nice family,” repeated Moreland, “Just business people taking care of business not causing any problems, just doing what they’re supposed to.  Just like every family around here.”

Erin Ebikefe is the Vazquez’s other next door neighbor. “It’s very scary because we just moved here, we’ve been here for, like, a year.  Because where I lived in Dallas I never seen this kind of stuff before.”

She summed up what a lot of people seem to be thinking.  “It don’t make no sense to me,” she said.

Police say detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the shootings.