Texas Man Kills Girlfriend, Himself After Argument Over $500 Lottery Ticket

An argument over a winning $500 lottery ticket has cost a Fort Worth, Texas couple their lives. According to ABC News, a 46-year-old man identified as Terry Martin first shot his live-in girlfriend, 48-year-old Laurice Hampton and then turned the gun on himself after she demanded he give half the prize money to her. While Terry was instantly killed, his girlfriend was able to call 911 and call for help. However, even after emergency responders reached the location of the shooting and took Hampton to the nearby Peter Smith Hospital, she died of her injuries a few hours later.

Homicide Sgt. Joe Loughman, an officer investigating the case, talked about the incident to Star-Telegram;

“We received information that the suspect had won $500 on a Texas lottery scratch-off ticket and that the victim wanted half of the proceeds. The suspect didn’t want to share it with her.”

According to the report, Laurice Hampton was able to make a call to 911 at around 6:30 a.m last Saturday and told the dispatcher what had happened. She was reportedly shot in the chest by Terry following the lottery-ticket argument.

“She told them that she had been shot and that he had shot himself after he shot her,” Loughman told reporters.

After emergency responders reached the home of the couple located on the 7400 block of Beaty Street, they found Terry lying dead inside the master bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. The injured Laurice was quickly transported to the hospital where she, too, passed away later.

According to Sgt. Loughman, Terry and Laurice knew each other since childhood and had been living together for several years. Theirs however was a very “volatile relationship,” which ultimately culminated in their deaths. Meanwhile, the report by Star-Telegram added that Terry was sent to jail for a day in 2012 and fined $214 for assaulting Hampton at their home in November 2011.

This is not the first time that the Inquisitr has reported about a lottery winning related violence. Just a few weeks ago, we had reported about the death of Arthur Neal, who according to his family members went missing after winning a $20,000 lottery back in December 2014.

[Image Via Star-Telegram]