NATIONAL BRIEFING / TEXAS

A couple has been accused of opening fire and wounding four people, including a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, who they mistakenly thought were trespassing on their property near Dayton.

The victims, who were off-roading near a residential area about 40 miles northeast of Houston, were struck with shotgun pellets late Thursday after stopping their vehicles near the Trinity River so the children could go to the bathroom, said Liberty County Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor.

Police said Sheila Muhs, 45, fired once with a 12-gauge shotgun, then handed it to her husband, Gale, also 45. DeFoor said Sheila Muhs called 911 and told the dispatcher, “They’re out here tearing up the levee, so I shot them.”

The Muhs are charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Donald Coffey Jr., 7, was in critical condition after being shot in the head. Patrick Cammack, a friend of the boy’s father who was driving a separate vehicle, was also shot in the head and in critical condition.