‘What have I done…this is not real,’ local teacher tells residents after son shot to death

RIESEL, Texas (KWTX) – Waco schoolteacher Sarah Elizabeth Hunt, 39, who’s accused of shooting her teenage son to death Monday morning as she drove him to school in Riesel, encountered two people near the Riesel Square in Riesel after the shooting and told them her son needed help and was “with her mother in heaven,” an affidavit released Tuesday afternoon says.

“What have I done…this is not real,” she told the two people, the affidavit says.

Later, under questioning about what happened, "she would respond by sobbing, saying ‘I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to,’” the affidavit says.

Hunt is held in the McLennan County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond charged with murder.

A passerby spotted Hunt’s white Hyundai minivan on a roadside just before 8 a.m. Monday near the Lions Club facility at 1270 East Frederick St. and called Riesel police.

Authorities found Garrett Hunt, 17, inside, dead of multiple gunshot wounds.

“When law enforcement found the vehicle, all the doors were closed, the windows were rolled up, and the vehicle was running,” the affidavit says.

Authorities found multiple .40 caliber cartridge cases on the ground on the driver’s side of the minivan and found a .40 caliber pistol inside the vehicle along with a spare magazine.

Hunt, the affidavit says, picked up her son from the camper in which he was staying with his father and was supposed to take him to school and drop him off, the affidavit says.

No one else was in the vehicle, the affidavit says.

The motive for the shooting remains a mystery.

“At this point we don’t have a motive, we don’t know what happened, we don’t know what led up to this, it’s a big mystery, and that’s what we’re trying to determine, what caused this,” McLennan County Sheriff McNamara said.

“We just don’t know at this point.”

“It’s a very sad, tragic situation, I don’t know how else to describe it,” he said.

“We’re going to be working overtime trying to sort this one out.”

The family recently moved to the area, authorities said earlier.

The teenager wasn’t enrolled in Riesel schools, but sources say he may have been on his way to attend his first day at Riesel High School.

Riesel ISD was aware of the incident.

“We have been working with Riesel PD on this matter and the person in question had not started school here. We will cooperate fully with the investigation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved,” Superintendent Brandon Cope said in an email Monday.

Waco ISD confirmed Hunt was a first-year teacher at Lake Air Montessori Magnet School and taught fifth grade social studies and science.

She’s previously worked for the Andrews ISD, they said.

A search revealed she has no previous criminal record.

As of Monday night, WISD officials had not yet made contact with Hunt, but they said once they reach her, she’ll be placed on administrative leave and be given the opportunity to resign.

If she doesn’t resign, they said, the district will begin the process to terminate her probationary contract.

Counselors were available Tuesday to students or staff who want to talk with someone about the situation and the district is also planning to offer group sessions over zoom which can be done one-on-one as needed.

(Rissa Shaw, Paul Gately, Rosemond Crown and Drake Lawson contributed to this story)

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