Texas prosecutor and wife shot multiple times: investigation

By Chris Francescani

KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas prosecutor and his wife who were shot at their home on Saturday each suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and sheriff's deputies found cartridge casings next to their bodies, according to an affidavit reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.

District Attorney Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia McLelland, were shot dead in their home two months after McLelland publicly vowed to track down the killer of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, shot dead in public on January 31.

The twin killings have rocked mostly rural Kaufman County on the eastern outskirts of Dallas, and several law enforcement officials have called them a direct attack on the criminal justice system.

Sheriff's deputies at the McLelland home "observed cartridge casings inside the residence near the two bodies during a protective sweep of the residence. Kaufman County Sheriff's Office personnel also observed multiple gunshot wounds on both victims," said the sworn statement by an investigator.

Investigators attempting to find a link between the two crimes were unable to recover any shell casings when Hasse was killed in the middle of the day near the Kaufman town square.

The Dallas Morning News, citing a law enforcement official, had previously reported shell casings were scattered about the crime scene at the McLelland home. The Forth Worth Star-Telegram first reported on the affidavit in Tuesday's editions.

Authorities have kept quiet about potential suspects, while people in town speculated it was the work of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a white supremacist jail gang. Dozens of its members were charged with crimes in an multi-agency investigation that included McLelland's office.

First Assistant District Attorney Brandi Fernandez was named interim district attorney on Monday and will hold the position for 21 days, or until Governor Rick Perry appoints a successor.

She takes over an office with three unsolved, high-profile homicides in which two of the victims held positions similar to her own.

"She's a very capable, well-known assistant D.A. in our office. A very bright person, she's very knowledgeable and will do a great job as interim. I have full faith in her abilities to do that," County Judge Bruce Wood, who leads the county's five-member political board, told reporters on Tuesday.

"I am optimistic," Wood said regarding the criminal investigation. "There are literally hundreds of people that are working this case. I am confident they will find whoever committed this crime."

Kaufman County, population 110,000, is generally split between rural towns in the eastern part of the county and more affluent Dallas commuter suburbs in the west, where the McLellands lived. The town of Kaufman, population 11,000, lies in the middle of the county, about 30 miles east of Dallas.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-prosecutor-wife-shot-multiple-times-investigation-170142570.html

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