Police, family and friends of two Texas men who were gunned down in the front yard of their home early Sunday are trying to determine the motive of a middle school teacher accused of the crime.
Cary Joseph Heath, 35, of Fort Worth, is charged with capital murder in the slayings of roommates Phillip Michael Evans and Daniel Derek Haros, who lived a few doors down from Heath. The Dallas Morning News reported that Heath is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond.
Evans’ mother, Paige Hudson Garcia, posted on Facebook that the two victims were in their pajamas, “defenseless and unarmed,” when they were shot. She said Heath did not know the men.
Police told the Morning News that Haros and Evans, both 25, walked to a neighbor’s Halloween party around 3 a.m. Sunday to say hello. They had a “friendly and cordial” conversation with the hosts of the party, as well as with Heath and his wife, Tiffany.
All four went to their respective homes a short time later, but police say Heath came back out of his house with an assault rifle and shot Evans and Haros to death in their own front yard, the Morning News reported. The victims also suffered blunt-force trauma to their heads. A witness told police he saw a man standing over Haros and beating him with the end of a rifle.
The witness yelled for him to stop, and the man pointed the gun at him and asked if he had a problem, the Morning News said.
After the shooting, Heath went back inside his home and told his wife what he’d done, asking her to clean blood from the safe where he stored his weapons, police said.
An affidavit indicated that Heath also held their infant, saying, “This is the last time I will see the baby. I killed two people.”
Despite the confession to his wife, Heath went to the Cedar Hill ISD middle school where he worked and taught his classes as usual on Monday morning, police said. A student told Dallas-Fort Worth's CBS 11 that the teacher acted "completely normal."
Heath was arrested by U.S. marshals on the campus of Permenter Middle School after classes let out for the day. The News reported that he has not cooperated with police and his motive for the shooting remains unknown.
Heath has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal case.
The News reported that Heath, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and his wife have four children. Neighbors said they often saw him outside playing with the kids.
He spent 13 years in the Air Force, earning a degree in physical education and science during that time, the newspaper said. This was his first year teaching at Parmenter Middle.
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