(KBTX-TV)
COLLEGE STATION (August 14, 2012)—Thomas Alton Caffall, 35, the gunman who opened fire on a Brazos County constable who was attempting to serve an eviction notice shortly after noon Monday at a house near the Texas A&M University campus, was a former Temple resident.
Brazos County Pct. 1 Constable Brian Bachmann was killed in the shooting, the College Station Police Department said.
He was serving an eviction notice at the home on Fidelity Street when he was killed, Assistant College Station Police Chief Scott McCollum said.
Brazos County Justice of the Peace Michael McCleary said Tuesday that Bachmann wasn't scheduled to serve the notice, but "grabbed" it from a deputy and made the delivery as "part of his job."
McCleary said Tuesday that Caffall was two months behind on $625 rent, and the notice ordered him to appear in court next week to explain the delay.
McCleary says eviction would have been the next step.
Bachmann was an 18-year veteran of the Brazos County Sheriff's Office before his election to the constable's post.
The College Station police officer, who was wounded after responding to a report of gunfire at the home, was shot in the leg, police said, and was in stable condition after surgery.
Two other officers were treated for unspecified injuries that weren't life threatening, police said.
Chris Northcliff, 51, of College Station, and a 55-year-old woman were also shot.
Northcliff died and the woman was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, police said.
Northcliff was simply a bystander who evidently was caught up in the shooting, police said.
Authorities identified the injured woman Tuesday as Barbara Holdsworth of Houston.
She was helping her daughter, a Texas A&M student, move from a house on Highlands Street to another home in College Station when the shootout started just around the corner.
She was struck twice in the back and once in the chest.
"Barbara is still in critical condition in ICU but she is stable and doing well," said Lauren Paine, a family friend.
Trauma doctors in the emergency room worked on Holdsworth for 45 minutes before she went into surgery Monday.
Holdsworth remains in critical condition at St. Joseph Hospital in Bryan.
Caffall was a Temple resident in 2006 and online records show he lived at 202 Woodbridge Apt. 148.
He pleaded no contest in April 2006 to a misdemeanor charge of driving with an invalid license.
W. Tyler Moore, an attorney for the gunman’s family said Tuesday that Caffall had been suffering from “mental issues,” but he declined to elaborate.
Moore said his Caffall's family had lost contact with him since the spring.
Moore said he had known Caffall since he was 4 years old and that "he wasn't the same kid that he used to be."
Caffall was shot during an exchange of gunfire with officers that authorities said lasted for about 30 minutes.
He later died.
Caffall had "long guns and pistols" in his home when Bachmann showed up to deliver the eviction notice, College Station police Chief Jeff Capps said Tuesday morning.
Capps said he had no other details on the weapons found in Caffall's home and said he wasn't aware of any previous law enforcement contact with the gunman.
Authorities said Tuesday that Calfall was fatally wounded by the officers with whom he exchanged gunfire Monday.
Caffall's sister Courtney Clark said her family was shocked by what her brother did.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families, and this is just a senseless tragedy," she said.
Clark declined to say anything else about her brother or what might have prompted him to commit the shooting.
A neighbor who witnessed the shooting said Caffall asked him to apologize to the constable he shot.
Rigo Cisneros, a former medic, told The Bryan-College Station Eaglet that Caffall made the request as he lay dying from bullet wounds he suffered in the shootout with police.
Officials at Texas A&M said Caffall was neither a student nor school employee.
Texas A&M issued an emergency alert that said the shooting occurred in the 200 block of Fidelity Street and directed students and staff to avoid the area.
At 12:44 p.m., the school sent out an update that said, "The shooter is in custody."
The house, which KBTX-TV reported is a rental property owned by an A&M professor, is near George Bush Drive, close to the A&M Former Student's Association building.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office offered assistance to local authorities and said “senseless attacks by violent criminals…will not be tolerated.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, issued a statement calling Bachmann “a brave protector and servant for our community.”
“We have all lost a great friend,” Flores said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also issued a statement in which he expressed his condolences to all of those affected by the shooting.
Summer semester classes ended last week and fall classes don’t begin at A&M until Aug. 27, but a Fish Camp session for incoming freshmen is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
