HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A suspect in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Army veteran shot and killed himself outside a sheriff's substation in northwest Harris County, according to deputies.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said the 18-year-old's mother drove him to the station in the 16700 block of Clay Road Sunday around 5 a.m. so that he could turn himself in in connection with the fatal shooting of James Sebastian Ayala, 25, that happened earlier that day.

A deputy who was walking to his car to get something saw the car, which had its lights on. He approached the car and the mother told him that her son was involved in the earlier shooting. The suspect got out of the car, admitted to the shooting and then shot himself, deputies said.

He was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.

Deputies said the first shooting happened around 12:15 a.m. on Katybriar at North Mason.

Deputies found Ayala, a father of four children, lying dead in the road with multiple gunshot wounds.

Sunday afternoon Ayala’s family told Channel 2 News that he had served bravely in Iraq and had been a dedicated soldier.

“It’s so sad and crazy that he risked his life all of that time defending our country, only to come back here and be murdered by some kid with a gun," a relative told us.

As for the identity of the 18-year-old gunman, that has not been released yet.