Rick Perry's Dead Cousin shot cop in hand w/ shotgun @ home now under reelection bus

[ProfessorMurder]

Cousin of Texas governor killed by deputies
(AP) – 1 day ago

AUSTIN, Texas — Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a cousin
of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in an exchange of gunfire with sheriff's deputies.

An attorney for Larry Don Wheeler's estate says the 74-year-old north Texas
man was on his backyard deck Saturday night at his Montague (mahn-TAYG')
County home. David Gossom said Thursday that's when deputies responded
to a disturbance call.

Montague County District Attorney Jack McGaughey (muh-GOY') says Wheeler
was holding a shotgun and an officer was shot in the hand. No other details
have been released, and an autopsy is pending.

Perry's office wouldn't elaborate on his relationship with Wheeler, a retired
social worker listed as a member of the governor's 2006 re-election campaign
steering committee.



Cousin of Texas Gov. Rick Perry killed in backyard gunfire exchange with sheriff's deputies -- latimes.com

Perry said Thursday that the death was tragic but stressed he hardly knew his
cousin, 74-year-old Larry Don Wheeler, even though he was listed as a
member of Perry's 2006 re-election steering committee.

"I'm not sure I would pick him out of a lineup," the governor said of Wheeler,
who he said was a distant cousin on his grandmother's side.
(What a stand up guy; what wonderful choice of words)



Wheeler was sitting on his backyard deck after dinner Saturday night at his
home at a Montague County country club when two sheriff's deputies showed
up in response to a disturbance call, said David Gossom, an attorney for the family.

"We received a call ... of a man with a shotgun," Montague County Sheriff
Paul Cunningham said. "Several citizens in the area were concerned."


Wheeler's backyard is near a golf course. Montague County is about 90 miles
northwest of Fort Worth.

What happened next is unclear and under investigation. After an exchange of
gunfire, Wheeler was dead and a deputy was shot in the hand. Gossom said
bullet holes riddled the back seat cushion of the chair where Wheeler was
sitting and the floor of his deck.

The two deputies involved are back on duty. Deputy Curtis Hamlin returned to
light duty Thursday, but still needs surgery to have shotgun pellets removed
from his hand, Cunningham said. Chief Deputy J.T. Mitchell came back
Wednesday after a mandatory 72-hour administrative leave.

"You always want to give police officers the benefit of the doubt because
they're doing a hard job," Gossom said. "But I'm having a difficult time —
after having been out to the scene and talked to a few witnesses — to figure
out why in the world this should have happened."



Read more: Texas Governor Rick Perry’s cousin Larry Don Wheeler shot and killed by deputies


Montague County District Attorney Jack McGaughey told BNO News that
sheriff’s deputies initially responded to a 911 call of shots fired at his home
at a Montague County country club on Saturday night.

When two deputies arrived on the scene, Wheeler, who was sitting on his
backyard deck, pointed a shotgun at the officers and opened fire. One officer
sustained a wound to his hand from the shots, McGaughey said. The officers
then returned fire, and fatally shot Wheeler.