Jimi

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Sorry Shutz, had to post it.

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- A man angry about being sued for unpaid child support opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle outside a courthouse, killing his ex-wife and a man trying to help the couple's adult son.

The gunman, 43-year-old David Hernandez Arroyo Sr., was killed Thursday afternoon in a gun battle with officers a few miles away after wounding his son and three law enforcement officers, one critically.

The son had been acting as a mediator between his parents, police said.

Police estimated that Arroyo, who had a history of spousal abuse and weapons violations, shot 50 rounds in the historic town square. He was wearing a military flak jacket and a bulletproof vest.

"He definitely came well-armed and prepared," police Chief Gary Swindle said. "We do understand there had been some threats made by him the previous week."

But the attorney representing Maribel Estrada, 41, said he doesn't believe she thought her ex-husband was dangerous. Estrada worked at a meat packing plant in Tyler and raised a 17-year-old and a 6-year-old with the help of her eldest son, Joshua Wintters said.

The other victim, Mark Alan Wilson, 52, was credited by authorities with saving the life of David Hernandez Arroyo Jr., who was listed in fair condition at a hospital with leg wounds. A sheriff's deputy, Sherman Dollison, 28, was in critical condition after being shot in the liver, lungs and legs; a sheriff's lieutenant and a Tyler police detective were treated and released.

"One of the deputies at the scene said if it hadn't been for Mr. Wilson," said Sheriff J.B. Smith, "the son would be dead."

Friends who visited the son in the hospital Thursday night said he told them that his father was always open about having a collection of weapons.

Aurea Seanez said the son told them, "And look now, he used them on us."

Wilson, a gun enthusiast who once owned a shooting range, intervened after Arroyo killed his ex-wife, witnesses said. Swindle, the police chief, said Wilson shot at Arroyo several times but his rounds weren't penetrating the armor.

"They traded shots, missing each other, and then the gunman hit Wilson and Wilson went down," Tyler Morning Telegraph publisher Nelson Clyde III said in Friday's editions of the newspaper. Clyde watched the shooting from a nearby restaurant.

"The gunman walked up to Wilson and shot him while he was on the ground," Clyde said. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was sickening."

Estrada and Arroyo divorced in January 2004 after 22 years of marriage. Wintters wouldn't say why the two divorced.

Tyler, the seat of Smith County, is a city of about 86,000 located about 95 miles east of Dallas. Tyler calls itself the "Rose Capital of the Nation" and attracts about 100,000 visitors each October to the Texas Rose Festival.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/25/tx...s.ap/index.html

This is one reason guns should have rather strict regulation.

Wayne Brady

I agree Jimi. This "2nd Amendment is free range to carry assault weapons and concealed handguns" bullshit has to stop. We have the right to bear arms, but this is anarchy.

jf

i love that this happened in texas... kinda brings it right to the doorstep of a lot of these people.

Jimi

I live in Texas.... I don't care where you live, this is just as bad anywhere.

adrenaline

"IM mad about paying child support, so I'm gonna go kill a bunch of people!"


uh that makes a heck of a lot of sence.. this guy should fry.

Jimi

He's dead.

robul

just because he was a stupid idiot doesnt change the fact that I am going to carry my .40 on my belt legally in the great state of texas.

Jimi

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be allowed their weapons. I'm saying that the regulation should help prevent stuff like this. This guy should have not had the guns, he was a ticking time bomb.

adrenaline

yes.. i spose i shoulda read the whole thing!

schutzenkonig

But a courthouse is a gun-free zone...this should never have happened...dumbasses. Wake up and realize that all you're doing by banning carry in places is making them easy victims. One of the guys killed was carrying, but was killed because his bullets didn't penetrate the body armor that the perp was wearing. If he had AP bullets though...then he would be alive, and possibly the two others too. But no...you're going to go and blame the fucking gun for what he did and use this as an excuse to trample on the rights of others, make women more vunerable by dissallowing them their right to protect themselves, and end up in a dictatorship like the Germans in 1938.

Jimi

No, regardless of whether it was a gun free zone or not, the guy would have killed people. As you said, the other man had a gun. Next you could argue that the gun wasn't strong enough, he should have had a .308. When does it end? You can't deny that this man should NOT have owned weapons.

Again, I think it should be peoples' right to own guns. I do, however, think that regulations should be implimented to stop people like this crazy ass from owning these weapons.

schutzenkonig

The guy who shot the place up was a felon. Under the GCA of 1968, he is banned from having a firearm. Under laws of the courtroom, he is not to have a gun there. Where did this get us? It got us 3 innocents dead there, plus quite a few others over the years.

Jimi

So, despite the fact that he was a felon, he had a small munitions collection? What I'm saying is... there should have been some regulation... the guy was obviously not all there, he was a felon, but he STILL had all these guns.

schutzenkonig

THERE IS REGULATION. The problem is that there will always be problems with people getting guns that deemed unfit for them because of black market and friends buying the gun for them. Both are illegal obviously, but regulation hasn't worked.