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PD: Two Dead After Shooting At Maypearl Home

MAYPEARL (CBSDFW.COM) – An exchange of gunfire between a Maypearl couple and a pair of burglary suspects ended with deaths of both suspects.

Ellis County Sheriff's deputies say a woman was watching TV at her home on Bee Creek Road, when she heard a sound at the back door, as if someone was turning a doorknob.

When she stood up and looked outside, deputies say, she locked eyes with a stranger dressed in camoflauge and carrying a gun.

"I think he spooked her, she spooked him," said Lt. James Saulter, of the Ellis County Sheriff's Office.

The woman ran to find a gun and called her husband.

Lt. Saulter said the he was already on the property, ran to the house, and grabbed his rifle.

Deputies believe the woman fired the first shot into the ground, as a warning.

Returning gunfire, the intruders struck the house several times.

Deputies later found bullet holes on the porch and master bedroom.

A bullet also grazed the woman's husband along his side, leaving what deputies described as a superficial wound.

Half a mile away, a neighbor, Marvin Moore, heard the blasts.

"I just heard some gunfire… like some rapid gunfire, 4,5,6 rounds… and then another round," he said.

"I kinda had a feelings something wasn't right."

Deputies say the homeowner hit one suspect in the foot, bringing him down.

They believe, the young man then killed himself with a single self-inflicted gunshot.

Investigators found him lying in field by the home, with an assault weapon at this side.

Searching for the second suspect, deputies used dogs to locate a red truck in a nearby field.

"While we were going into the field, we heard another shot – which we believe was the second suspect taking his own life," said Saulter.

They found his body inside the truck.

The vehicle had been reported stolen near Oklahoma City.

Monday, investigators there had expressed concern after 17 year old Kenneth Chafin ran away from home, stealing the truck, his parents' medication, and more than a dozen guns.

"There was no harsh words, there was nothing that brought this on that we could tell other than him getting in with the wrong crowd,"  said his father, Roland Chafin.

The family is now waiting for the Dallas County Medical Examiner to positively identify the suspects, to learn whether one is their son.

Sheriff's investigators are also waiting on a search warrant to get a look inside the truck, but claim they can see a number of guns in plain view.

A spokesperson for the department, Lt. Saulter said, the incident is an example of why the sheriff encourages citizens to arm themselves.

In the roughly 15 minutes it took deputies to respond to the home, he said, the couple was left to fend for themselves.

"This would have been a totally different outcome, I believe, had the homeowners not been armed," he said.

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