Slain Texas students and their grandfather remembered as 'bright, shining stars' & More Trending News

CNN
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Hundreds of mourners stuffed a baseball diamond about 30 miles south of downtown Houston Friday to recollect Mark Collins and his 4 grandsons – “bright, shinning stars” within the phrases of a household good friend.

Collins, 66, was visiting the household’s weekend ranch in Leon County with 4 of his seven grandchildren – brothers Waylon, 18, Carson, 16, and Hudson, 11, and their cousin, Bryson Collins, 11. They had been killed there by a convicted assassin who had been the topic of one of many largest manhunts for an escaped inmate in Texas historical past.

Gonzalo Lopez, who escaped from a prisoner bus final month, was later killed in a shootout with officers.

“What happened to the Collins family is unspeakable,” Harris County Sheriff’s Det. David Crain, a detailed good friend of the household, advised CNN affiliate KTRK-TV, describing them as “bright, shinning stars.”

The household’s pastor, Steve Bezner, known as Collins and his grandsons an “amazing family” that was “close-knit and of deep faith.”

Waylon Collins had graduated from Tomball High School simply days earlier than his loss of life, KTRK reported.

“The loss of a student, for any reason, is heartbreaking, but to lose four in such a tragic way is excruciating,” Tomball Independent School District Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora stated in a letter. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of these beloved students and grandfather.”

On Friday, mates and household shed tears and shared hugs through the vigil on the Tomball college district baseball discipline, the place Waylon was an umpire for the little league.

Lopez was killed in a shootout with authorities late Thursday, hours after he was named the suspect within the killing of Collins and his grandsons, officers stated. Investigators imagine Lopez broke into the household’s dwelling and stole a truck.

Lopez was driving that truck when it was disabled with a spike strip within the city of Jourdanton, stated Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Lopez then acquired right into a firefight with officers after crashing the car.

“He fired several rounds at officers and was armed with an AR-15 and a pistol,” stated Clark, including the firearms had been doubtless additionally stolen from the Collins’ ranch.

No officers had been injured.

Lopez was affiliated with a strong and violent jail gang identified as the Mexican Mafia, and had ties to San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley space, in keeping with the state’s public security division.

He had been convicted of capital homicide, tried capital homicide and aggravated kidnapping, the Texas Department of Public Safety stated. He was serving two life sentences for these convictions.

The Collins’ ranch was inside the perimeter police had been looking out following Lopez’s escape, which occurred May 12 close to Centerville as he was being taken from a facility in Gatesville to a different unit in Huntsville for a medical appointment.

Centerville is round 120 miles north of Houston, in keeping with officers.

Lopez was being pushed in a separate, caged space of the jail bus however broke out of his restraints, minimize by means of the steel and crawled out of the underside of the cage, officers stated.

He attacked the driving force and compelled the bus to a cease, authorities stated. The two acquired out of the car, and as one other officer started approaching, Lopez went again into the bus and tried to drive it away.

Officers shot on the tires and stopped the car, authorities stated. Lopez then left the bus and bumped into the woods off of Highway 7, in keeping with authorities.

Lopez was on the state’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, with authorities providing as much as $50,000 for data resulting in his seize.

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