Brothers killed in double murder-suicide while trying to protect their neighbor from an angry boyfriend: the police

Two brothers were shot dead outside their Texas home as they tried to protect their neighbor from her irate boyfriend, who then turned the gun on himself, police said.

Edward and Luis Lopez-Robles were at their Houston home Friday evening when their neighbor and her two teenage boys came running to her after a domestic violence incident with her boyfriend, Carlos Guerra, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman and her boys entered the brothers’ home and Guerra soon followed.

He allegedly knocked on their door to confront the mother, who was not publicly named. Edward, 50, and Luis, 31, met him outside to try to keep him away from the woman.

But the suspect immediately opened fire, killing both men, before a third brother rushed out with his own gun to help his fallen siblings, police said.

After a gunfight with the third brother, Guerra fled back to his home, where he fatally shot himself, the sheriff said.

The woman, her children and Lopez-Robles’ third brother were not injured in the incident, and all four people cooperated with Harris County officials.

The sheriff’s office noted that just days before the fatal shooting, there had been a call from the suspect’s home about a domestic violence incident.

Police declined to discuss the details of the phone call.

Neighbor Alberto Hernandez told Fox 26 he was shocked that such a grizzly case happened in his neighborhood as he mourned his two neighbors.

“I saw the bodies on the ground,” Hernandez said of the aftermath.

“I haven’t been able to sleep,” he added. “It was three in the morning and their bodies were still on the ground.”

If you or someone you know is at risk of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or Safe Horizon at 1-800-621-HOPE.