The lawyer accused of gunning down his former daughter-in-law and her attorney husband during a deposition before killing himself had terminal cancer and carried out the shootings in front of his wife, according to reports.
Joseph Houston, 77, shot and killed Dennis, 57, and Ashley Prince, 30, during the child custody deposition Monday morning in the Prince Law Group’s offices after he told another lawyer earlier in the week he didn’t have long to live, according to Fox News Digital.
“Joe told me this not long before the shooting, that he was dying of terminal cancer. Makes me wonder if he felt like he had nothing to lose? I really don’t know though, I can’t make any sense of this all,” Robert Eglet, a former law partner of Dennis, told the outlet.
Houston was representing his son who was in a custody fight with Ashley Prince, who was represented by Dennis as part of a wider legal team.
Ashley and ex-husband Dylan Houston divorced in 2021 and both had custody of their two children before Ashley filed a motion Monday to gain sole custody of the kids, according to court records reported on by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Joseph Houston’s wife was supposed to be questioned during the deposition on Monday and witnessed the shooting, Las Vegas attorney Lisa Rasmussen told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
A pregnant lawyer also in the room, Shannon Wilson, ducked and hid under a conference room table when Houston began shooting, according to a court filing penned by another lawyer, Michele LoBello, who was also representing Ashley Prince, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
She asked Joseph Houston to let her leave the room in the middle of the gunshots.
“She explained to me that she asked Mr. Houston please not to hurt her baby as she is pregnant,” LoBello wrote in the court filing. “She explained to me that Mr. Houston allowed her to leave the conference room and following her quick departure and taking cover elsewhere in the office, she heard additional shots fired.”
Ashley Prince’s lawyers successfully filed a motion to allow the slain woman’s sister to assume custody of Prince’s two kids following the shooting, according to the newspaper.
LoBello alleged Dylan Houston might have had an idea what his father was going to do before the deadly gunshots.
Dylan Houston has denied any advanced knowledge of his dad’s attack.
“The motivation of the tragedy of April 8, 2024, is unknown to anyone but Joseph W. Houston himself. The Defense’s suggestion that this was a ‘planned attack’ with the Plaintiff is insulting and quite speculative,” Dylan Houston, who is also a lawyer, wrote in a response.
Houston’s family released a statement Tuesday morning, stating they were in a “state of profound shock and sadness” over the fatal shooting, according to Fox 5 Las Vegas.
Dennis Prince leaves behind four children, including a 6-month-old baby he shared with Ashley Prince, Eglet told Fox News.
“You know, it’s just so tragic, I can’t even put it into words. He was one of my closest friends for more than 30 years and was my business partner for more than 10 years,” Eglet said.
