A woman was shot in the head Monday in front of her own children in a busy downtown casino parking lot. Police say the children's father pulled the trigger.

Investigators at the scene say the woman was meeting her ex-boyfriend there to exchange the children. This all happened around 12:30 pm at the Gold Spike parking lot. They say the woman's current boyfriend was also in the car.

Witnesses say there was an argument, then shots were fired. Police say they are thankful for those witnesses because they were able to hold down the gunman until help arrived.

"The good thing is we had some pretty sharp citizens who were here and thought enough to take action and get this guy into custody before he hurt anyone else," Metro's Lew Roberts told News 3.

The woman is in critical condition. The children were not hurt and the gunman is in custody.