Man shot to death during child custody handoff outside Family Dollar in NE Harris County

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A man is dead, and the hunt is on for his killer after authorities say a child custody handoff in northeast Harris County took an unexpected, and deadly turn.

The sheriff’s office said it happened outside a Family Dollar off Aldine Bender Road around 8:15 p.m.

That’s where Detective Corey Castro with HCSO’s Homicide Division said they found an unidentified man in his 40s with several fatal gunshot wounds.

Details as to how everything unfolded are still unclear, but preliminarily, deputies believe there was a child custody exchange between a mother and father.

Investigators said the father turned the 3-year-old over to the child’s mother when he got into an argument with her new partner that turned heated, before leading to a gunfight, killing one of them.

“The biological father, we believe, is the shooter,” Detective Castro explained. “And the child is their child, and the decedent is the new boyfriend to the mother."

We’re told the mother and the child were unharmed and out of the area during the gunfight.

The father, meanwhile, took off shortly after the shooting and deputies say currently remains at large.

If you have any information on what happened or where he might be, you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477) or HCSO’s Homicide Division at 713-274-9100.

Other details are limited at this time.

Authorities are investigating.