"Austin police officers James Cartier and Joe Hernandez said they took one look at the letter Edward Eberle had written to his wife Thursday and got worried.
Eberle wrote that he had "chosen a life in prison" and told his wife farewell, according to an arrest affidavit obtained Monday. He asked her to return his library book and encouraged her to "sell any story you want to tell to the highest bidder." By then, he also had sent a text message to his sister, telling her to turn on her television.
"It was very alarming to me," Hernandez said. "I believed something catastrophic was going to happen, to the point of many lives being lost."
Cartier said it was apparent to him that the letter was not a suicide note, but was instead a message about an intention to hurt others. Within an hour, police said they had surrounded a South Austin Wal-Mart, where Eberle had worked until he was fired in March. They arrested him near the entrance to the store and said he was carrying a 9 mm handgun and "an unreasonable amount of ammunition."
Eberle has been charged with making a terroristic threat and carrying a weapon in a place licensed to sell alcohol. Both are third-degree felonies; if convicted, Eberle could face up to 10 years in prison on each count. He and his family could not be reached Monday.
Police Chief Art Acevedo called Eberle a potential "mass homicide suspect" and said work by officers had helped avert injury or death to customers and employees.
"But for the actions of this team, we would have had a tragedy," Acevedo said.
Austin police Sgt. Brian Miller said he and four other officers arrived at the Wal-Mart about an hour after Eberle's wife alerted police, giving time for Cartier and Hernandez to verify the existence of the letter and to get a description of Eberle. Miller said some officers blocked the entrances and exits to the store; others began searching for Eberle inside.
He said that officer Randy Stachewicz got a report that Eberle had just headed toward the pharmacy department and alerted other officers of his whereabouts. Just before 5 p.m., officer Jonathan LaBorde spotted Eberle near the entrance, leaning on a vending machine, Miller said.
He said Eberle went back inside, at which time Stachewicz knocked him to the ground as other officers swooped around him.
On Monday, the officers received a commendation from Acevedo at a news conference."
So the guy was wandering around a Wal-Mart for about an hour until a cop arrives to knock him to the ground. Sounds to me more like he was casing the place in preparation to robbing it rather than looking to begin a shooting spree. Or...was looking to commit suicide by cop.
Whatever; perhaps someone from the Lone Star State can clue me in on precisely how much is an unreasonable amount of ammunition.
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