An elderly gunman opened fire at a Texas high school band competition over the weekend, leaving one person wounded. However, a parent tackled him and others helped disarm and detain the suspect.
The incident occurred around 6 p.m. on Saturday evening at Pasadena Memorial High School when the suspect fired a small-caliber gun, officials said. Pasadena is a suburb of Houston.
Dwight Benjamin, a percussion technical consultant for the Angleton Independent School District, was shot in the shoulder and taken to the hospital in stable condition, officials said.
Then the parent tackled the man, who was surrounded quickly by school district police and “several good Samaritans.”
“Within 60 seconds, a suspect was disarmed and they prevented further shooting by this suspect,” Pasadena Police Department Chief Jerry Wright said at a news conference.
The parents who jumped in to help were identified as 13-year Air Force veteran Abram Trevino, 14-year Army veteran Adam Curow, 4-year Marine Corps veteran Efrain ‘Polo’ Castillo and veteran Houston police sergeant Joe Sanchez, according to KHOU-TV. They are among a group of Pearland High School dads who help out at band events.
“I think anybody with our collective backgrounds would just do that, just out of nature,” Trevino told Fox 26.
Pasadena police identified the suspect as Erwin Brandl Jr., 83. He told officers he thought he was being chased and feared for his and his wife’s safety. Police said he left his home in Spring, Texas to the school — about 40 miles south — and had no prior connection to the school.
His bond was set at $80,000 and he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The band event was canceled in the aftermath and no students were injured.
