KAUFMAN, Tex. — A county prosecutor in this small town southeast
of Dallas was fatally shot on Thursday morning near the courthouse by one or
perhaps two gunmen, whom witnesses described as wearing masks, black clothing
and tactical-style vests, the authorities said.
The prosecutor, Mark E. Hasse, worked in the Kaufman County
district attorney’s office in Kaufman, a town of 6,800 people about 35 miles
from Dallas. He was shot several times shortly before 9 a.m. as he walked in an employee parking lot about a
block from the courthouse.
The authorities said the suspect or suspects got out of a
Ford Taurus, opened fire on Mr. Hasse and then returned to the car and drove
away. Investigators were trying to determine why Mr. Hasse was targeted and if
the shooting had anything to do with cases he had prosecuted.
“I’ve been doing this 43 years, and I’ve never seen anything
like this,” said David A. Byrnes, the Kaufman
County sheriff.
Mr. Hasse, 57, was the county’s lead felony prosecutor and a
well-respected assistant district attorney. He received his law degree from
Southern Methodist University in Dallas
and in the 1980s served as a prosecutor in the Dallas
County district attorney’s office,
where he had been the chief of the organized-crime section.
Officials said they were reviewing Mr. Hasse’s current cases
— as many as 400 of them — and previous ones for leads.
“There’s a lot of shock,” said David Finn, a criminal defense
lawyer in Dallas and former federal prosecutor who knew Mr. Hasse. “Where this
happened, it’s not New York City or
Dallas or L.A.
or Chicago. This is a very, very,
very small community, and for this to happen out there, it’s a huge deal. It’s
incredibly brazen.”
After the shooting, the Kaufman County Courthouse went into
lockdown and then was closed as officers and agents from local, state and
federal agencies searched the streets nearby.
Lauren D’Avolio reported from Kaufman, and Manny Fernandez
from
Houston. Clifford Krauss
contributed reporting from
Houston.
Kaufman Co. Asst. DA Mark Hasse Likely Targeted in Fatal
Shooting: Police
$36,000 reward offered for information leading to the
arrest, conviction of gunman
By
Frank
Heinz Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 | Updated
7:36 PM CS
Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was
gunned down Thursday morning in what appears to be a targeted attack, police
say.
Hasse was shot multiple times while walking from the parking
lot toward the county courthouse at about 8 a.m.,
officials said. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died.
When asked if Hasse appeared to have been targeted by his
attacker, Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said, "I would say from all
appearances it is. But we have no concrete information on that. We're pursuing
every avenue right now."
"We suffered a devastating loss today. We lost a
really, really good man. He was an excellent friend and a spectacular
prosecutor. He will not be easily replaced. He will be sorely missed by
everybody in the office," said Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney
Mike McLelland. "I hope that the people that did this are watching because
we are very confident that we are going to find you, pull you out of whatever
hole you're in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman
County prosecute you to the fullest
extent of the law."
Chris Aulbaugh, the Kaufman Chief of Police, said no
official arrests have been made in connection with the shooting but that they
are following up on several leads, including multiple witness reports from
various angles around the crime scene.
Agents with the ATF, FBI, the Texas Rangers and State
Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety are at the scene assisting
local and county law enforcement with the investigation.
Police said witnesses have reported two shooters wearing all
black, one or both of them possibly wearing a tactical-type vest, and driving
an older, silver Ford Taurus. Aulbaugh said they have not yet confirmed that
there were two people involved in the shooting and if the shooter(s) were
wearing a tactical jacket as described.
Police taped off the parking lot near the Tax Assessor/Collectors
office, which is near the courthouse and is commonly used by judges and
prosecutors. Officers later expanded the taped-off area to include two city
blocks. Several streets around the courthouse and parking lot are closed as the
shooting is investigated.
Investigators said they were not aware of any threats made
toward Hasse and that they didn't know of any cases that might explain the
shooting, but that Hasse was aware of the dangers associated with his
profession.
"Mark was fully aware of the dangers of this job. He
accepted them readily and was, as I said before, an absolutely stellar
prosecutor and good friend," said McLelland. "Tell the people that
they have lost an outstanding man who will not be easily replaced."
Eric Smenner, a friend of Hasse's, told NBC 5's Scott Gordon
that while it was too soon to say what may have led to the shooting, Hasse had
dealt with cases involving methamphetamine in the county, gangs and white
supremacist groups.
He
described Hasse as a hard-working lawyer who “loved to tell stories”
and often put dangerous criminals behind bars.
Tonya Radcliffe, a board member on the Kaufman County
Appraisal District whose office is adjacent to the scene of the shooting, said
a staff member heard the gunshots and called police. Radcliffe said she and her
staff of about 25 are in the building and under lockdown.
During the early stages of the investigation, a
hospital, several schools and county buildings, including
the Tax Assessor/Collector's office, were locked down as a
precaution. With Thursday being the last day for people to pay
property taxes without a penalty, officials advised Kaufman County residents
that they could still pay taxes using the county's pay by phone
option or make payments in person at sub-courthouses and drop boxes.
A 36,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the gunman is being offered with $10,000 coming from Kaufman
County Crime Stoppers, $10,000 from a local Kaufman business and donations
continue to pour in from local businesses. As always, tipsters may remain
anonymous. More information on the investigation and reward are expected to be
revealed after a 3 p.m. news conference.
Anyone with information is asked to call Kaufman County
Crime Stoppers at 1-877-TIPS-KCC.
Editor's Note: Greenville
ISD was under lockdown due to a search for robbery suspects. The lockdown was
not related to the Kaufman County
shooting.
NBC 5's Randy McIlwain, Scott Gordon, Ken Kalthoff, Keaton
Fox and Deborah Ferguson contributed to this report. We will continue to update
this story with more information as soon as it's available. As this story is
developing, elements may change.
Texas prosecutor
gunned down; manhunt for 2 suspects
John Bacon and William M. Welch, USA
TODAY
7:26 EST January 31, 2013
A manhunt was underway for two suspects after an assistant
district attorney was gunned down Thursday outside a courthouse in Kaufman,
Texas.
Mark Hasse, 57, was walking from a parking lot toward the
Kaufman County Courthouse annex when he was shot multiple times just before 9 a.m., Kaufman
County spokeswoman Pat Laney said.
Kaufman, Texas
Pat Laney, spokeswoman for the Kaufman sheriff's department,
said late Thursday that no arrests had been made in the case. She said earlier
reports of an arrest were in error. The Dallas Morning News had
reported that Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he understood
there had been an arrest.
Hasse headed many county drug and murder cases. Shortly
after the shooting, Sheriff David Byrnes said the killing was an attack on the
criminal justice system."This is the next level (of crime)," he said.
Security officers and deputies closed nearby streets in
Kaufman, a North Texas town of about 6,700 residents
less than 40 miles from Dallas.
Kaufman schools were put on lockdown.
Hasse's death raises the larger issue of security for
prosecutors who are responsible sending criminals to prison, Dallas County
District Attorney Craig Watkins said.
Watkins says he's most concerned that people who are out on
bail and awaiting trial will target him as the face of the office or his
prosecutors.
"These are people who are on the front line," said
Watkins, who leads an office of 250 prosecutors. "Why isn't there
security? We have a lot of individuals who have ill will toward our profession.
Maybe this unfortunate circumstance will provide a wakeup call for those
individuals who do hold the purse strings to make sure we're protected."
Hasse began his career as a prosecutor in Dallas
County in 1982 after graduating
from Southern Methodist University's law school. He worked as a prosecutor in Dallas
until 1988, Watkins said. Although Watkins did not know Hasse, he said he had a
reputation as a "very thorough and tough prosecutor."
Lawyer James Lee Bright told the Morning News he
arrived at the courthouse just as officers began swarming the scene.
"Within two or three minutes, the whole square was
literally flooded with officers," Bright said. He said he saw a woman
shaking as she told a bailiff she had witnessed the shooting.
People were allowed to leave the building in groups,
depending on where they were parked, he told the Morning News.
"When you hear a DA at 8:40
in the morning is gunned down by two people, I think there's a reasonable
presumption that it's not random," Bright said.
Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood said the courthouse remained
closed and it would be up to the sheriff to determine when it would reopen.
Wood told the Morning News he saw Hasse every day
in the courthouse hallways.
"He was revered and he did an outstanding job,"
Wood said. "We see each other every day. … It's a very small
courthouse."
"It's a horrible situation," Wood told
the Morning News. "None of us would have ever expected anything like
this to ever happen in our county."
The Morning News is reporting that "authorities
with knowledge of the assistant DA's caseload say he had been heavily involved
in the investigation of members of the Aryan Brotherhood."
The shooting took place hours before two members of the
Aryan Brotherhood of Texas pleaded guilty in Houston
to racketeering and other charges. The pleas were part of a wide-ranging
investigation that included the Kaufman County District Attorney's office.
A probe is underway to determine if the shooting is
connected to that investigation, the Morning News says.
The U.S. Justice Department announced those guilty pleas in
a statement released Thursday.
The statement claims the brotherhood "enforced its
rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates
through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, assault, robbery
and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the
enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the
orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as 'direct orders.'"
The Morning News says Hasse was chief of the Dallas
County district attorney's
organized-crime section from 1985 until 1988 and a former president of the Dallas
chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In 1995, he suffered a skull fracture
when his small plane crashed in Luray, Va. The
Morning News says Hasse was flying the lead plane in "Freedom Flight America,"
a cross-country convoy of hundreds of planes commemorating the end of World War
II. He was flying at AT-6 Texan, a World War II-era training aircraft.
His death led to warnings elsewhere. WFAA-TV in Dallas
reports that the email below was sent by the Dallas
County DA
to his staff:
"This message is not intended to scare anyone but
please be advised. A Kaufman County
prosecutor was fatally shot a few minutes ago outside the Kaufman County
Courthouse in Kaufman. Two masked gunmen are the suspects. They have not been
apprehended yet.
Please be aware of your surroundings when leaving the
building for your safety. This is probably an isolated incident but until
further notice if you plan to work past dark today please be careful and ask
security for assistance escorting you to your vehicles if needed. I will keep
you informed as to the arrest of the suspects when I am notified. Don't panic
but please be aware of your environment when leaving the building."
Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said the shooting would
have a major impact on Kaufman.
"Any loss of life, especially someone out there
protecting the community, would have that effect," he said.
Contributing: Doug Stanglin, Donna Leinwand Leger;
Associated Press
12:11 PM
Update on the shooting in Kaufman County: Police and other
law enforcement agencies, including the Texas Rangers, are hunting for two
suspects in the death of an assistant district attorney, who was shot multiple
times while walking from his car to his office.
http://d-news.co/hiKIP
UPDATE: Kaufman police chief, D.A. say Craig Watkins ‘made a
mistake,’ no arrest made in Mark Hasse’s killing
Update at 5:04 p.m.
from Ray Leszcynski: Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh, County Sheriff
David Byrnes and District Attorney Mike McLelland took a break from their own
press conference to look in to media reports that an arrest had been made in Dallas.
“There has not been an arrest made yet on this offense,”
Aulbaugh said upon reconvening. “Our D.A. has been on a phone call to the
Dallas DA’s office.”
Mark Hasse (Courtesy
Kaufman County)
McClellan said that apparently Dallas County District Attorney
Craig Watkins was doing an interview and inadvertently referenced that there
had been an arrest made in the shooting of Mark Hasse.
“He made a mistake during that interview,” McLellan said.
The Kaufman County
DA’s office will remain closed
Friday, according to County Judge Bruce Bell. But other county offices will
reopen, including the courthouse and other downtown properties and the county
library that was closed Thursday on the outskirts of town.
“The plans are to open so that we’re back to operating as
normal as soon as possible,” Byrnes said.
For the foreseeable future, however, uniformed personnel
will work the parking lot a block east of the courthouse during times when
employees are typically coming to or leaving from work.
McLelland said that walk would be different.
“But we’ll still make the walk. We’ll show up for work and
send bad guys out of Kaufman County
every chance we get.”
They thanked and vowed continued use of many resources, the
Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, FBI, DPS,
and Texas Rangers, as well as the city police who are heading the investigation
and the county sheriff’s department and constables.
“We’re in the process of running down many leads right now,”
Byrnes said. They have several leads but declined to discuss them at this
point.
Kaufman County Crime Stoppers and a local business have
combined to offer $20,000 for information leading an arrest and conviction in
the case. 1-877-TIPSKCC (1-877-847-7522).
Several people who heard shots or were nearby have been
interviewed and those interviews are being pieced together, officials said.
It was confirmed that much of the parking lot is visible
from a camera across the street on the roof of the county tax office, but it
was also confirmed that the video had been reviewed and was of little help in
the investigation.
Byrnes and Aulbaugh confirmed that the crime had the look of
a “hit,” that Hasse was specifically targeted.
“But we can’t definitely say that it was a hit,” or that
Hasse was targeted, Aulbaugh said. “We’re pursuing all possibilities.”
McLelland confirmed that his department had worked Aryan
Brotherhood cases in the last two years but said each of the 13 attorneys in
his office has 380-390 cases at a time, that as far he knew Hasse was not
currently working an Aryan Brotherhood case and that it was too early to narrow
the focus. Aulbaugh also said at this time there is no indication any prison
gang was involved.
Hasse was said to be armed, typically, but it was unknown
whether he was carrying a gun on Thursday when he was assaulted on the walk to
the office after he’d parked his vehicle.
“It’s apparent he was not expecting to have anything
happen,” Byrnes said. “He was on his way to his office.”
His boss did not know of any reason Hasse would have a
heightened sense of worry prior to the assault.
“Mark was fully aware of the dangers. He accepted them
readily,” McLelland said. “It was simply the nature of the beast to be working
and dealing with bad, bad people on a regular basis.”
McLelland spoke personably about Hasse, who had worked for
the office for about three years.
“Kaufman County,
the state of Texas and especially
my office suffered a devastating loss,” he said. “We lost a really good man. He
was an excellent friend and a spectacular prosecutor.
“I hope that the people that did this are watching. Because
we’re confident we’re going to find you, pull you out of whatever hole you’re
in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman
County prosecute you to the full
extent of the law.”
McLelland said Byrnes, 57, left no wife or children. He did
just bought a house in Kaufman County
and had started working on it.
Updated at 4:18 p.m.: Debbie
Denmon, a spokeswoman for DA Craig Watkins, said a “confidential source”
informed the DA’s office office that an arrest had been made in the case.
But Denmon said Kaufman
County officials subsequently would
not confirm that an arrest was made.
“We’re going to respect their wishes” on that, she said.
Updated at 3:25 p.m.
by Selwyn Crawford: Dallas County District Attorney Craig
Watkins says an arrest has been made in this morning’s
slaying in Kaufman.
Watkins won’t say when, where or who was arrested, however,
and Kaufman officials at a 3 p.m.
news conference seemed unaware of any arrest.
“I can’t overstep the bounds of Kaufman
County,” Watkins said. “All I can
tell you is that there was an arrest.”
Investigators left evidence markers in downtown Kaufman near
where the prosecutor was shot this morning. (David Woo/Staff Photographer)
Watkins said that because the victim was a Kaufman
County prosecutor, he does not
believe that office can prosecute the case and said that he would like to
handle it.
“We’re going to make an offer to Kaufman
County to prosecute this case,”
Watkins said.
“But even if they choose another jurisdiction to handle it,
we will provide whatever resources or help they need since [Hasse] was a former
Dallas County
prosecutor.”
Updated at 3 p.m.: Kaufman
authorities have announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the
capture and conviction of the shooters.
Anyone with information can call Kaufman police at
972-932-3094 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-877-847-7522.
Updated at 2:45 p.m.
by Danielle Abril in Kaufman: All schools in Kaufman ISD will remain on
lockdown until the end of the school day, Superintendent Todd Williams says.
Parents will be able to pick up their children at the
regular closing time.
More on the victim from staff writer Diane Jennings (updated
at 2:40 p.m.):
Mark Hasse, 57, loved flying, said his longtime friend
Marcus Busch of Washington, D.C.,
even after suffering “catastrophic” injuries in a plane crash 17 years ago.
Hasse was piloting the lead plane in a cross-country convoy
commemorating the end of World War II when it crashed in 1995. Morey Darzniek,
who survived the crash with Hasse, said Hasse was “an incredible person in
every way. He had the right moral standards.”
Hasse suffered a skull fracture but recovered enough to
resume the practice of law and continued flying.
He also was active in the fight against drunken driving,
serving as president of the Dallas
chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Suzette Pylant, a victim advocate for MADD North Texas, was
working with Hasse on a drunken driving case at the time of his death. She’d
last met with him on Dec. 21.
Pylant said Hasse was “a squeaky clean guy,” she said. “He
was one of those guys who was always going to wear the white hat.”
Hasse was not married and his relatives did not return calls
for comment.
Updated at 1:25 p.m.
byRay Leszcynski, Scott Goldstein and Ed Timms: The Kaufman County sheriff
has identified the assistant DA slain by masked gunmen as Mark Hasse, a onetime
Dallas County
prosecutor.
Word spread quickly in the legal community in Dallas and
Kaufman that it was Hasse who had been shot this morning.
The courthouse in downtown Kaufman was locked down
immediately after the shooting. (David Woo/Staff Photographer)
Veteran defense lawyer Eric Smenner, whose office is near
the courthouse, said his immediate reaction was that Hasse was likely targeted.
“I felt it very certainly had to be work-related,” he said.
“I can’t imagine the guy has any enemies that would cause that to happen on a
personal level.”
Smenner added that Hasse parked in the same area every day,
“so if somebody was out to get him all they’d have to do is watch him a little
bit.”
Mark Hasse was chief of the Dallas
County district attorney’s
organized-crime section from 1985 until 1988 and a former president of the Dallas
chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
In 1995, he was seriously injured while flying the lead
plane in “Freedom Flight America,”
a cross-country convoy of hundreds of planes commemorating the end of World War
II. He was flying at AT-6 Texan, a World War II-era training aircraft.
He suffered a skull fracture when the plane crashed while
landing in Luray, Va.
The plane overshot the 3,000-foot runway at Luray
Caverns Airport
and hit a road embankment, according to authorities. Update at 1 p.m. by Scott Goldstein:
Lawyer James Lee Bright said he arrived at the Kaufman
courthouse just as officers began swarming the scene.
“Within two or three minutes, the whole square was literally
flooded with officers,” Bright said. “I just went inside, and by the time I got
inside the information that it was actually a shooting and who it might be was
just barely starting to filter into the courthouse.”
Bright said he saw a woman who was shaking as she told a
bailiff what she had just witnessed.
“I just saw it, I just saw it,” the woman said, according to
Bright.
The courthouse was quickly put on lockdown.
“It was a little surreal being locked in there,” Bright
said.
People were allowed to leave the building in groups,
depending on where they were parked.
As for a possible motive, Bright said there’s no telling how
many cases the veteran prosecutor worked over the years that could potentially
be connected.
“When you hear a DA at 8:40
in the morning is gunned down by two people, I think there’s a reasonable
presumption that it’s not random,” he said.
Update at 11:52 a.m.: Officials
continue to withhold the slain prosecutor’s name until his family can be
notified, but details have begun to emerge about his recent cases.
Authorities with knowledge of the assistant DA’s caseload
say he had been heavily involved in the investigation of members of the Aryan
Brotherhood.
Officials now are reviewing those cases to determine if
today’s shooting might be connected to that probe.
Update from staff writer Ray Leszcynski in
Kaufman: Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood said he saw the victim every day
in the courthouse hallways.
“He was revered and he did an outstanding job,” Wood said.
“We see each other every day. … It’s a very small courthouse.”
The judge, who declined to identify the prosecutor, said he
was in his office at the time of the shooting but did not hear anything.
Wood said he did not know what cases the assistant DA may
have been involved in, but he was not aware of any heightened security.
He said the county courthouse is closed today and it would
be up to the sheriff to determine when it would reopen.
“It’s a horrible situation,” Wood said. “None of us would
have ever expected anything like this to ever happen in our county.”
Update at 10:50 a.m.: Kaufman
Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said an assistant district attorney was shot
multiple times about 8:50 a.m. while
walking from his car to his office.
The victim, whose name has yet to be released, died from his
injuries, Aulbaugh confirmed.
Witnesses said that after shooting the prosecutor, the
gunman fired shots in the air to scare away bystanders as the two suspects
fled.
The police chief said Kaufman police reached out to other
law enforcement agencies, including the Texas Rangers, for help with the manhunt.
Aulbaugh did not say whether there was one or multiple shooters.
A Kaufman City Council member said the Rangers would be the
lead investigative agency because the victim was a county employee.
Updated at 10:30 a.m.: Kaufman
County officials have confirmed
that the prosecutor has died in this morning’s shooting outside the county
courthouse.
The victim’s name has not yet been publicly released,
pending notification of his family. But according to state records, the
prosecutor was certified as a peace officer in 1988.
Those that know him say he was a gun enthusiast who
typically wore a gun belt. It is unknown if he was wearing the gun belt
Thursday, but he almost always carried a weapon, they say.
Kaufman city leaders were stunned by the shooting.
“I’m just sad and concerned for the individual involved and
the family members,” Mayor Pro Tem Tony Rader told our Diane Jennings.
Rader, a city of Dallas
employee, said he was not in town when the shooting occurred but he was
monitoring developments through text messages and Facebook.
City councilman Jeff Jordan said he heard the news when a
friend called “to ask me what was going on.”
“We’re all shocked and very sad,” Jordan
said.
Rader said he didn’t think he knew the victim, and Jordan
said he knew who he was but did not know him well.
Kaufman is a town of about 7,000 located about 35 miles east
of Dallas.
Updated at 9:49 a.m.: A
Kaufman County prosecutor has reportedly been shot near the courthouse in
downtown Kaufman this morning.
The condition of the prosecutor was not known. His name is
being withheld, pending notification of his family.
The shooting reportedly occurred in a parking lot behind a
county building where many prosecutors and judges park. The courthouse is just
a short distance away, said Eric Smenner, a Kaufman defense attorney.
“My secretary heard the gunshots,” Smenner said.
He said she told him that she then saw a silver Taurus
fleeing down the street. Other media reported that the two suspects were in all
black, and one may have been wearing a tactical vest.
In addition to the courthouse on Mulberry
Street, several nearby Kaufman ISD campuses have
been locked down as a precaution.
Smenner said the prosecutor who was shot was well-liked by
all and had previously worked in Dallas
County.
Original post at 9:48 a.m.: There’s
been a shooting outside the courthouse in Kaufman this morning, and much of
downtown has been locked down.
The victim was reportedly a county employee and was shot
several times. That person’s condition is not known.
Early reports were that two armed men ambushed the victim
about 9 a.m. outside the courthouse
and opened fire.
They then fled and may remain at large.
