Police said the gunman, an adult woman and a young girl all died after a domestic dispute near Birdville Stadium.
HALTOM CITY, Texas — Three people, including a child, were killed Friday afternoon in a shooting at the Birdville Stadium parking lot, where police said a man opened fire on two females inside a vehicle before turning the gun on himself.
Authorities said officers were called just before 4:30 p.m. to the 6100 block of East Belknap Street after reports of gunfire near the stadium. The case quickly drew attention across North Texas because it happened on school district property, but police and Birdville ISD said the violence was isolated, happened after school hours and was not tied to any district event. Investigators said the three people knew one another and were believed to have a family connection, though identities had not been released by Saturday morning.
Haltom City police said the encounter began when a man arrived in a U-Haul van and confronted a woman who was in a white car on a nearby road. Investigators said both vehicles then moved into the Birdville Stadium parking lot, where the confrontation escalated. Sgt. Richard Alexander said officers believe the man fired into the car, killing the woman and the child inside, then shot himself. “The person sitting in the rear of the vehicle was a child, and the other two were both adults,” Alexander said as detectives worked the scene Friday evening.
When officers arrived, the man was found outside the vehicle with a gunshot wound, while the woman and child were found inside the car, according to police. One female victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to a hospital, where she later died. Medics also treated the man believed to be the shooter, but he died shortly afterward, police said. By early evening, investigators had sealed off the lot with crime scene tape, and aerial footage from local television showed a white car, a U-Haul truck and a widening perimeter as officers brought in portable lights to continue processing evidence after dark.
School officials later confirmed the child was a kindergartener at Cheney Hills Elementary School in Birdville ISD. In a message to families, Principal Cheryl Waddell said the campus was devastated by the loss. The district also released a broader statement saying it was aware of the fatal shooting that occurred after school hours in the Birdville Stadium parking lot and that police had confirmed the incident was isolated and not related to the district. Birdville ISD said no activities had been scheduled at the stadium or nearby facilities at the time. That detail became central to the district’s public response as families sought reassurance that no students were gathered there when the gunfire broke out.
The shooting unfolded in a setting better known across the area for youth sports and school events than for police tape and homicide investigators. Birdville Stadium sits near district facilities in Haltom City and serves a large suburban school community in northeast Tarrant County. That location added to the shock even though police repeatedly stressed the shooting was rooted in a personal dispute, not a random attack or a threat to schools. Investigators also said the case did not appear to be road rage. By late Friday, authorities were still working to notify relatives, confirm how the people involved were related and establish the chain of events that led both vehicles into the stadium lot.
No charges are expected because police say the suspected gunman is dead, but the case remains an active homicide investigation while detectives finish witness interviews, collect forensic evidence and await formal identification of the dead. Officials said more details would be released after next of kin notifications were completed. The medical examiner is also expected to determine the official causes and manners of death. Police had not said by Saturday morning whether any 911 recordings, surveillance video or prior reports involving the adults would become part of the public case file.
As darkness fell Friday, emergency lights flashed across the stadium grounds while officers moved between patrol vehicles, evidence markers and the two vehicles at the center of the investigation. There were no school games or events to clear, but the scene still drew concern because of how close it was to a major district venue. “We are heartbroken this has occurred in our community,” the district said in its statement, echoing the grief that spread from police briefings to elementary school families within hours of the shooting.
By Saturday, the three deaths had been publicly tied to an apparent domestic dispute, but investigators were still working to identify the victims by name and explain what happened in the minutes before the shooting in the Birdville Stadium parking lot.
Author note: Last updated March 28, 2026.