DeFoor said the Coffey family -- mom Becky, dad Donald Sr. and their three children -- were visiting friends along with Patrick Cammack and Cindy Nelton in the Muhs' neighborhood near Dayton, Texas, about 45 miles east of Houston.
The two families had planned to go off-roading at the nearby government-owned levees on the way home, an activity that is both popular and legal in the area, DeFoor said.
In the Jeep were Cammack, 30, Donald Coffey, 30 and Donald Jr., 7. In the following Ford SUV were Becky Coffey, Nelton and the Coffey's 5-year-old daughter, Destiny, and 11-year-old son.
The two cars stopped on the county-owned road outside the Muhs' home so one of the boys could go to the bathroom by the side of the road.
That's when, DeFoor said, the couple ran out of their house.
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Outside the Muhs' house is a handpainted sign complete with misspelling and exclamation points that warns: "Trespassers Will Be Shot. Survivers Will Be Reshot!! Smile I Will."
Liberty County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor told ABCNews.com today that the shooting was the most "violent reaction to something so blatantly, blatantly minor" he's ever seen.