Supremacist plot feared behind killings in Texas
Source: Agencies |
April 2, 2013, Tuesday
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THE white supremacist group Aryan Brotherhood may be behind the weekend killings of a Texas district attorney and his wife, which occurred months after an assistant prosecutor was shot dead in the same county, a Texas lawmaker said yesterday.
"I believe it is a group. It could possibly be the Aryan Brotherhood," Texas Congressman Ted Poe, a Republican and veteran former judge and prosecutor in his state, told CNN.
Poe did not elaborate on his hypothesis about the killings, or say what exactly his information was based on. But he stressed that only 13 prosecutors have been murdered across the United States in the last 30 years and said the Texas killings had all the hallmarks of a brazen campaign of fear and intimidation, "specifically aimed at certain people in particular roles in law enforcement."
Investigators have not named any suspects in the case.
"It seems to me that a scenario may be developing that the district attorney's office was investigating this gang, or another gang, and they wanted to prevent that investigation," Poe added.
Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were discovered with fatal gunshot wounds at their home near Forney, Texas, on Saturday. Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down in January.
Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said on Sunday that the FBI, Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officials were investigating the double homicide. The Kaufman County Sheriff's Office was notified shortly before 6pm on Saturday that the two bodies had been found in their rural home just outside Forney, outside Dallas, Byrnes said.
While he would not discuss possible suspects in the case, law enforcement officials are widely believed to have focused on the prison-based Aryan Brotherhood in the still unsolved Hasse killing.
Kaufman County is considered a regional stronghold of the gang, which Poe said was heavily involved in drugs and prostitution and "anything for money."
"I believe it is a group. It could possibly be the Aryan Brotherhood," Texas Congressman Ted Poe, a Republican and veteran former judge and prosecutor in his state, told CNN.
Poe did not elaborate on his hypothesis about the killings, or say what exactly his information was based on. But he stressed that only 13 prosecutors have been murdered across the United States in the last 30 years and said the Texas killings had all the hallmarks of a brazen campaign of fear and intimidation, "specifically aimed at certain people in particular roles in law enforcement."
Investigators have not named any suspects in the case.
"It seems to me that a scenario may be developing that the district attorney's office was investigating this gang, or another gang, and they wanted to prevent that investigation," Poe added.
Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were discovered with fatal gunshot wounds at their home near Forney, Texas, on Saturday. Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down in January.
Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said on Sunday that the FBI, Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officials were investigating the double homicide. The Kaufman County Sheriff's Office was notified shortly before 6pm on Saturday that the two bodies had been found in their rural home just outside Forney, outside Dallas, Byrnes said.
While he would not discuss possible suspects in the case, law enforcement officials are widely believed to have focused on the prison-based Aryan Brotherhood in the still unsolved Hasse killing.
Kaufman County is considered a regional stronghold of the gang, which Poe said was heavily involved in drugs and prostitution and "anything for money."
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