A county constable was one of three people killed Monday near Texas A&M University when a gun nut opened fire from inside a house he was about to be evicted from.
The 35-year-old gunman, Tres Caffall, died after being shot by SWAT officers during a firefight in College Station that involved as many as 30 shots, witnesses and police said.
The dead law enforcement official was identified as Brian Bachmann, 41, a married father of two who won election in 2010 to the post of Precinct 1 Constable of Brazos County, Texas.
Bachmann was fatally shot just after 12 noon while serving Caffall with an eviction notice, said College Station Police Assistant Chief Scott McCollum.
“Brian Bachmann was very close to everyone in law enforcement. He was a pillar in this community,” McCollum said.
Police said 43-year-old Chris Northcliff, an innocent bystander, was also fatally shot in the crossfire of the lunchtime barrage.
A second innocent bystander, 55-year-old Barbara Towne Holdsworth, was in critical condition after undergoing surgery on her bullet wounds, police said.
Blaine Burke, an A&M finance student, said Holdsworth was a mother helping her daughter move in to a nearby home.
Caffall’s mother, Linda Weaver, issued a statement Monday night expressing horror and heartbreak.
“Our family was shocked and devastated by this tragedy this afternoon,” Weaver said in her statement.
She said her son had been ill, but declined to elaborate.
“Our thoughts and prayers go to the families of the deceased and the wounded victims,” Weaver said. “We mourn them and the loss of Tres. He had been ill. It breaks our hearts that his illness led to this.”
On his Facebook page, Caffall posted several photos of antique and modern rifles, including a Czech vz. 58 assault weapon with two banana clips.
“Just picked it up today, can’t wait to try it out on the range,” he wrote on his Facebook account in June 2011, adding that the gun cost him $799.
Bachmann had previously worked as a sheriff’s deputy in Brazos County for nearly 20 years before being elected constable. He was a highly decorated sheriff’s deputy, honored twice as Patrol Deputy of the Year and twice as Drug Enforcement Officer of the Year.
His primary duty as constable was to act as bailiff in the local Justice of the Peace Court, serving civil process papers and warrants.
Cops responding to the scene found Bachmann lying mortally wounded in the front yard.
Caffall began firing at officers from inside the house, wounding one in the calf, McCollum said.
Witness Will Hatheway said he was about a block from the house when gunfire broke out. He told the Daily News that he heard at least 30 shots coming from what sounded like a semiautomatic weapon.
“Several police officers were all taking cover behind their vehicles,” Hatheway said.
He said cops were yelling at people to stay inside their homes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Hatheway said. “I’m grateful that I wasn’t closer.”
Two other cops who responded to the shooting suffered minor, non life-threatening injuries.
The Texas A&M emergency website immediately issued a “Code Maroon,” warning students and staffers to stay clear of the area of the shooting, which is about a block from the campus.
At 12:44 p.m., the site reported “the shooter is in custody.”
McCullum said the gun battle lasted for about 30 minutes.
“It was an extended duration of time that the officers had to engage the individual before they were able to terminate the threat,” McCullum said.
Texas A & M, which is located between Houston and Dallas, is the sixth biggest university in the country and the home of the George Bush Presidential Library.
But few students were on the campus because classes don’t begin until Aug. 27.
The school is no stranger to tragedy. In November 1999, 12 people were killed and 27 were injured when an annual Aggie Bonfire consisting of more than 5,000 logs collapsed.
The shooting comes just a month after 12 people were killed and 58 wounded in a movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., and a week after six people were shoot to death at Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee.
With Philip Caulfield and Corky Siemaszko
whutchinson@nydailynews.com
Source : Gunman opens hearth near Texas A&M University, killing county constable and ... - New York Daily Information
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