Texas kills at least one gunman
Officers in Bryan, Texas, are still investigating the shooting that left at least one dead and four others injured.
Associated Press, USA TODAY
A suspected Texas gunman who killed at least one person and wounded five others at a cabinet maker was arrested on Friday on a $ 1 million mortgage and is accused of setting fire to the company where he once worked. .
Authorities in Texas said Larry Bollin, 27, was arrested Thursday after a hunt. He was charged with murder and several additional charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as a result of the shooting at Kent Moore Cabinets in Bryan, Texas.
The Bryan Police Station said Timothy Smith, a 40-year-old father of two who lived in Bryan, was killed Friday. The motive of the shooter is not immediately known.
Juan Rojas Tovar, Texas Highway Patrol Trooper, was also shot during the hunt. Lt. Texas Public Safety Department Craig Cummings told reporters on Thursday that the troop was in a stable condition but needed surgery.
This is what we know on Friday:
What happened during the Bryan shooting?
Bryan police responded to reports of a shooting on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. When they arrived, one person was dead and five others were injured. As of Friday night, one victim is still in critical condition, two others are in stable condition and two others have been released. A sixth person had an asthma attack and was also taken to a local hospital, said Bryan police chief Eric Buske. They have since been released.
Police said the suspect left with the arrival of officers.
Cummings told reporters that the soldier was shot around 3:30 p.m., when he and other law enforcement officers tried to arrest Bollin in the city of Iola, about 30 miles from the cabinet industry.
Bollin was eventually arrested by Texas Highway Patrol soldiers near the town of Bedias at about 4:20 p.m., Cummings said.
Who are the victims?
Smith, the victim who died, found his profession in Kent Moore Cabinets, his sister told USA TODAY. He was creative, loved working with his hands and eventually got a job that would enable him to take care of his wife so they could build a future together.
“Nobody has a way of coping at this point,” his sister, Brittany Jackl, told the United States today. “We’re all so shocked.”
Jackl, who works for the Florida Times-Union, said her family had never heard of Kent Moore’s cabinets and was trying to work together that led to Smith’s death.
They have a military family and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, near a military base in the area. The couple quarreled like most siblings, but as they got older, they got closer. Jackl said they would dance together and even go to nightclubs, but Smith was not there to drink or party.
“He will not drink at all. The moment we walk in the door, he will just start dancing,” Jackl said, noting that her brother was not paying attention to what he would get if he got in the zone. and start breakdancing. “My brother was an amazing dancer, as he thought he was Channing Tatum in his own little ‘Magic Mike’ routine.”
Jackl said her brother had two sons, both of whom live with their mothers – one in Texas and the other in Florida. He was in love with his wife, and she noticed that they had just celebrated their second wedding anniversary in February. “When they’re together, it’s literally like looking at two teenagers,” Jackl said of the couple.
She said her brother worked in the service industry for years, but he found a new start at Kent Moore Cabinets.
They would keep in touch on Snapchat regularly and send each other goofy photos and videos using filters and funny voices, Jackl said. Smith, a religious Christian, would also send Bible verses or the cupboards he built, showing his family in the business and the people he worked with, she added.
“He was very proud of his work. He loved his work,” she said. “He was very proud of himself. He worked hard to get where he was and he was very proud. I was also very proud of him.”
Bryan police said Friday night one victim was still in critical condition, two were in stable condition and two others were released.
Juan Rojas Tovar, highway patrol trooper in Texas, who was injured during a shooting during a search for the suspect, was in a critical but stable condition and also remained in the hospital. Texas Department of Public Safety said Friday.
Who is the suspect?
Bollin, of Iola, is on trial on one charge of murder, along with five charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon resulting from the shooting.
Police in Bryan said Bollin is an employee of Kent Moore Cabinets, but a motive is not immediately known.
No Bollin lawyer has been listed in the online court records.
More about Kent Moore Cabinets
Kent Moore Cabinets opened its first store in Texas in the 1970s and now has a staff of nearly 600 employees across the state, according to the company’s website.
“We continue to strive to build the best custom cabinets specifically designed for discriminating homeowners,” says the company’s website.
On Facebook, the company wrote that it was ‘crushed by the tragic events’ at the plant in Bryan. “We think of our workers and their families, and we ask that you will be with us to keep everyone in these thoughts and prayers touched by this tragedy.”
The plant is located approximately 100 miles northwest of Houston and is close to Texas A&M University.
What was the reaction?
The shooting came just a day after a former NFL player opened fire on a house in South Carolina and killed five people, including two children.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, this is the 14th mass shooting in the US in April. The archive defines mass shooting as four or more people injured or killed, not the shooter, and includes all mass shootings, not just those in public places.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that he ‘prayed for the victims and their families and for the police officer who was injured while apprehending the suspect.’
Texas Senator Ted Cruz also prayed for the victims said on Twitter.
Contributing Contributions: The Associated Press
Follow Ryan Miller from USA TODAY on Twitter @RyanW_Miller