Doctor found slain at his Lubbock home

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP/KXAN) - Lubbock police are investigating the death of a doctor found shot in his home as a homicide.

Sgt. Jonathan Stewart says police were called to the home Wednesday afternoon after a landscaper and a maid found the body of Dr. Joseph Sonnier III, chief pathologist for Covenant Health System in Lubbock.

Stewart says landscapers had found a broken window at the house.

Stewart tells the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that police couldn't elaborate on what type of firearm was used in the homicide.

Stewart tells The Associated Press that they currently have no suspects in the case.

Sonnier was the first husband of Becky Gallegos, 55, who was shot and killed on July 12, 2010, in a murder-suicide along with her second husband, Fermin Gallegos, 62, in Gillespie County.

Investigators determined that Fermin Gallegos called 911 to report his crime before turning a Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum pistol on himself. The gun was later recovered next to him.

The deaths happened at 1844 Reeh Road. Inside the home, investigators found the woman shot twice in the chest, lying on the floor next to the couch. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fermin Gallegos was found on the couch with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and the family dog fatally shot next to him.

He was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio where he died around 6:30 p.m. that night.

Investigators believe a marital dispute was the motive.