Terrell Texas Killing Spree: Drugs Blamed For Shooting [Update]

The Terrell, Texas killing spree details continue to emerge.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Texas shooting rampage left five dead and the suspect in custody.

The suspect, Charles Everett Brownlow Jr. was arrested at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday following a high speed chase. Terrell police Chief Jody Lay said he believes Mr. Brownlow might have continued the attack if an officer hadn’t spotted his car. Mr. Brownlow is being held on one count each of capital murder and evading arrest. More charges are expected to be added to the roster.

Police Chief Lay released his feelings of events that unfolded in his small town:

“We’re all in a state of shock, you have a tendency to think, ‘How can that happen here?’ This is a country community, a rural community, people are real close. This is going to be, it’s going to have a really big impact on us.”

The victims were identified as Brownlow’s mother, Mary Brownlow, 61; his aunt, Belinda Walker, 55; Jason Michael Wooden, 33; Kelleye Lynnette Sluder, 30; and Luis Gerardo Leal-Carrillo, 22. Lay said that Brownlow “hung out occasionally” with Wooden and Sluder. He wasn’t sure if he knew Leal-Carrillo.

Terrance Walker, the suspects brother said Charles Brownlow struggled with drug addiction and “always wanted to take something that wasn’t his.” He said Brownlow had been living at their mother’s home and that she continued to look after him. Terrance reflected on the difference in might have occurred if things had been a little different:

“I was hoping my mom would open her eyes and realize that she needed to let him grow up, put him out”

Mr. Walker also said his own family spent the night at a hotel instead of their home in Forney, and that he was armed with a pistol in case his brother came after him.

Mr. Brownlow’s criminal record goes back to 1995 and includes convictions for drug possession, burglary, and assaulting a family member in 2011. Records also show Charles Brownlow was accused of striking a woman he had a relationship with. In 2009, he was sentenced to three years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was paroled after seven months.

Chief Lay said Brownlow appeared to be intoxicated “on some sort of substance” when he was arrested.

What do you think of these tragic events?