Investigators said the March 27 shooting near Birdville ISD Stadium was deliberate, targeted and tied to a custody dispute.

HALTOM CITY, Texas — Haltom City police say a 30-year-old father lured his former partner and their 6-year-old daughter to a stadium parking lot on March 27, then shot them in what detectives later described as a carefully planned ambush before killing himself.

Authorities said the shootings happened just before 4:30 p.m. in the 6100 block of East Belknap Street near Birdville ISD Stadium. The dead were identified as John Mbuyi, 30, Raissa Thatukila, 33, and Nathy Mbuyi, 6. Police said their investigation found the attack was premeditated and targeted, not a sudden argument that turned violent. The case drew wide attention because it unfolded near school property in the middle of the afternoon and because one of the victims was a kindergartner in the nearby Birdville district.

Police first announced the shooting Friday, saying officers were sent to the stadium parking lot after reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found two female victims inside a vehicle and a male believed to be the shooter outside the vehicle. One victim died at the scene. Another was taken to a hospital and later died. The man also died after the shooting. Early statements from police described the case as an isolated domestic incident. By Monday, detectives said the evidence pointed to something more deliberate. John Mbuyi, according to the department, got Raissa Thatukila and their daughter to come to the lot by saying he would give them money. Instead, police said, he had already set up the confrontation. “Based on the evidence, detectives have concluded this was not a spontaneous incident but a deliberate act of violence,” the department said.

The names and ages of the three people involved were released after detectives completed the first round of interviews and scene work. Police said John Mbuyi and Thatukila were in an ongoing custody dispute over their daughter. Investigators said evidence showed he held “significant grievances” toward her. Authorities also said he had recently been grieving the death of his father and had expressed troubling thoughts related to death. Police did not publicly describe the exact evidence they used to reach those conclusions, and they did not release court papers, text messages or witness statements with the update. That left some important details unresolved, including when the meeting was arranged, whether anyone else knew about it in advance, and how long Mbuyi had been preparing for the attack. The department said it would release no further details out of respect for relatives and friends trying to grieve.

The location added another layer of public shock. Birdville ISD said there were no district activities taking place at the stadium that Friday afternoon, and police said there was no sign the violence was connected to the school system itself. Still, the shooting happened in a place usually tied to games, practices and family events. District officials later confirmed that Nathy Mbuyi was a kindergarten student at Cheney Hills Elementary School, a nearby campus in Birdville ISD. In messages to families, school leaders said they were devastated by the loss and were preparing support for students and staff. Counselors were scheduled to be available when classes resumed, and the district canceled a Saturday school session at Cheney Hills in the immediate aftermath. The district also said it was working closely with Haltom City police as the investigation moved forward.

Because the suspected gunman is dead, there is no criminal prosecution to move through the courts. Even so, several procedural steps remain. Police still must finish the investigative file, route evidence for final review and complete the medical examiner process for all three deaths. Officers have not said whether there were prior calls for service involving the adults, whether any custody orders were active at the time, or whether additional records may later become public through open-records requests. The department’s latest statement strongly suggested the basic findings are settled: detectives believe Mbuyi arranged the meeting, opened fire on Thatukila and Nathy, and then turned the weapon on himself. What remains uncertain is whether authorities will eventually release a fuller narrative of the planning, including digital evidence, witness accounts and a more exact timeline of the final hours before the shooting.

At the scene, television images showed crime-scene tape around a white car and a U-Haul van, with emergency vehicles clustered nearby as traffic was blocked off. Sgt. Rick Alexander told reporters on the first day that the people involved knew one another and appeared to have a family relationship, a sign that investigators were already looking beyond a random act. In the days that followed, the public picture became both clearer and narrower. Police identified the victims, described the shooting as targeted and laid out the broad motive they believe drove it. At the same time, they chose to withhold many personal details. School officials struck a similar tone, speaking publicly about grief and support while avoiding extended comment on the family. That left a city with the basic facts of a tragedy, but not the full private history behind it.

Police have publicly framed the case as a completed murder-suicide investigation, with no threat to the broader public and no indication of more suspects. The next milestone is the eventual closing paperwork and any further release of records, if the city decides more details can be made public.

Author note: Last updated April 20, 2026.