Royse City police investigating murder-suicide

ROYSE CITY, Texas - Two unrelated men are dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Royse City.

One of the dead men is James Stevens, 42, who lives at the home on Laurel Lane. The other is Travis Hicklin, 24. It’s not clear who pulled the trigger, police said.

According to Royse City PD, Stevens' wife and child were inside the home at the time of the shooting but they were not injured.

Family friend Sydney Green said Stevens use to be in the military and the couple moved to several cities before settling into the rented home about three years ago in Royse City. As far as Green knew, Stevens didn’t have any problems with anyone.

The family friend, who lives close to the Stevens’, said she walked out her front door about 6 a.m. to start her day and saw police and an ambulance outside.

“When I saw that I was like, ‘Oh God is she OK, is her son OK?’ Because she has a little boy. But when I found out it wasn't her I was like, well, still it’s a bad situation no matter which way you go,” Green said.

When shown a photo of Hicklin, Green said she hadn’t seen him before.

The medical examiner will determine if both men died from gunshot wounds or if there were other factors involved in the deaths.

A motive for the apparent murder-suicide remained unclear.