The case links a neighborhood emergency call, a Fort Worth school campus and a pending manslaughter charge.
BENBROOK, Texas — A fatal shooting inside a home on Sproles Drive has linked a Benbrook neighborhood, a Fort Worth elementary school and a Tarrant County manslaughter case against the victim’s husband.
Lindsay Velasquez, 42, died after police found her unconscious with a gunshot wound on April 17. Her husband, Alberto Velasquez, 39, was arrested at the scene and charged with manslaughter. The shooting was first reported as accidental, but police have not released a detailed explanation of what happened inside the home. The result is a case defined by two tracks: public grief for a school leader and a criminal process still short on public answers.
The home sits in Benbrook, a city southwest of Fort Worth. Police and fire personnel were sent to the 1000 block of Sproles Drive at about 7:26 p.m. after a report that someone had been accidentally shot in the face. The first responders found Lindsay Velasquez unconscious. Emergency crews took her to Harris Methodist Hospital in downtown Fort Worth. She was pronounced dead after the shooting. No public report has said that anyone else was injured during the response.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office later gave the case its formal death record. It identified the woman as Lindsay Grace Velasquez and found that she died from a gunshot wound to the head. The office classified the death as a homicide. In public criminal cases, that ruling often becomes one of the first fixed points in the record. It establishes the cause and manner of death, while leaving the court to decide what criminal responsibility, if any, can be proven.
Police arrested Alberto Velasquez after the on-scene investigation. Local reports said he was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on a manslaughter charge and later released on a $35,000 bond. Fort Worth ISD confirmed that he and Lindsay Velasquez were both district employees. Local reports described him as a social studies teacher certified for middle and high school. His next public court step had not been listed in reports, and authorities had not announced whether more filings were expected.
The district’s first public statement separated the shooting from campus safety. Fort Worth ISD said it was aware of a tragic off-campus incident involving two district employees. “This situation did not occur on a Fort Worth ISD campus, and there is no ongoing threat to students or staff,” the district said. That line addressed one immediate concern for families while also showing how close the case sat to the district. The victim was a campus administrator, and the accused was also tied to the school system.
Lindsay Velasquez worked at Luella Merrett Elementary School, where her public biography said she was in her second year as assistant principal. The biography described her as someone who brought positive energy to the campus and worked hard for families, teachers and students. It named programs she helped continue, including recognition for outstanding students, perfect attendance and weekly Super Bee awards. Those are small details, but they show her work as visible and routine, built into the school’s weekly rhythm.
Her professional life began before her administrative role. An obituary said she taught English at Carter-Riverside High School and Stripling Middle School before serving as assistant principal at Luella Merrett. It described her as an educator who believed in knowledge, encouragement and leadership. It said she helped students build confidence and connect with their own potential. In that account, her influence reached beyond lesson plans, into the way students and staff remembered how she treated them.
Her family’s public message placed her three daughters at the center of the loss. A fundraiser said Lindsay Velasquez had a rare way of making people feel seen and cared for. It said the loss would be felt forever by those who loved her, especially her daughters, who now face life without their mother’s presence and guidance. The family wrote that anyone loved by Lindsay was loved forever and without judgment or qualifications. The words framed her as a steady figure in a family now facing sudden change.
The legal charge uses a different language. Manslaughter in Texas means recklessly causing another person’s death. It is generally a second-degree felony. If convicted, a defendant can face two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The charge against Alberto Velasquez does not decide guilt. It starts a court process in which prosecutors must prove the elements of the offense, and the defense can challenge the state’s evidence and account of the shooting.
That process may turn on details not yet released. Investigators could examine the firearm, the location of the wound, the position of people in the room, statements made during and after the emergency call, and any physical evidence inside the home. They may review whether the gun was handled before the shot, how close the weapon was to Lindsay Velasquez, and whether any witness heard an argument or saw the moments before the shooting. None of those facts has been fully laid out publicly by police.
The case also contains unknowns that affect both the family story and the legal one. Officials have not said whether the couple’s three children were home. They have not said whether there had been previous calls to the address. They have not released the 911 recording or a detailed probable cause narrative. They have not said whether Alberto Velasquez made a formal statement beyond the report that the shooting was accidental. Without those details, the public record remains careful and incomplete.
For the Benbrook neighborhood, the case began with emergency vehicles arriving on a Friday evening. For Luella Merrett Elementary, it became the sudden absence of an assistant principal whose work had touched student awards, attendance programs and daily campus life. For Tarrant County courts, it became a manslaughter case with a defendant out on bond. Each setting holds a different part of the same story, and none alone explains the whole case.
Fort Worth ISD said counselors and support staff were made available to students and staff at affected campuses. That response reflected the role Lindsay Velasquez held in a school where children and employees may have known her through ordinary daily contact. The district did not release detailed internal plans for the campus, but its statement made clear that the loss was being treated as one that reached into the school community even though the shooting happened miles away.
For now, the investigation remains active, and the next meaningful update is likely to come from police records, court filings or a scheduled hearing. Until then, the case stands as a fatal home shooting first reported as accidental, a homicide ruling by the medical examiner and a manslaughter charge against Alberto Velasquez in the death of Lindsay Velasquez.
Author note: Last updated May 18, 2026.