Friday night in Fite Barnes and Sonia Samuel's West Dallas motel room was no different than others since the couple moved in about a month ago, neighbors said.

The couple argued and screamed for hours. But then, around 10:15 p.m., the room suddenly got quiet.

"We heard a bang, bang, bang," neighbor Barbara Tanner said. "It was loud."

Ms. Tanner and her common-law husband ran and hid in their bathroom, she said. On the other side of their motel wall, 51-year-old Mr. Barnes and 39-year-old Ms. Samuel had been shot multiple times. Police found their bodies on the kitchenette floor.

Police said a man entered the couple's motel room at the Budget Suites motel in the 8100 block of North Stemmons Freeway near Mockingbird Lane and shot them.

"We think one of the victims knew the individual involved," said Dallas police Sgt. Ray Beaudreault, a homicide supervisor.

The man fled in Mr. Barnes' car and remained at large Saturday, he said.

The motive for the shootings was unknown, but Mr. Barnes and Ms. Samuel may have owed the man money, Sgt. Beaudreault said.

Both Mr. Barnes and Ms. Samuel had criminal histories in Dallas County, according to county records. Mr. Barnes was arrested in January on assault charges, and he was sentenced in December to a year of probation for attempted possession of a controlled substance. Ms. Samuel was found guilty of prostitution three times, most recently in 2001. She also was convicted of theft last year and of possession of a controlled substance in 1998.

On Saturday morning, the couple's third-floor motel room was in disarray. A bedroom window was shattered, the mattress lay crooked and open drawers were scattered across the bed.

Police were investigating how the man entered the couple's room; deep dents surrounded the front door knob.

Since the couple moved in, nights were filled with yelling and loud noises, Ms. Tanner said. Mr. Barnes and Ms. Samuel would argue all-night long and people constantly knocked or kicked loudly on their metal door to come in, Ms. Tanner said.

Ms. Tanner's common-law husband, who wouldn't give his name because he feared for his safety, said the non-stop screaming almost led him to call the motel's manager Friday night. The constant traffic in and out of the couple's room concerned him, he said.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't right," he said.