A Texas district attorney and his wife were found dead in their home — the second murder of a US prosecutor in the same office in less than two months, sparking fears of a larger plot.
In January, Kaufman County assistant district attorney Mark Hasse, 57, reportedly investigating the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood, was gunned down just outside a courthouse in a small Texan town.
On Saturday, the county’s district attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia Woodward McLelland, were found shot dead at their home.
“It is a shock,” Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh told the Dallas Morning News.
“It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock,” he added.
“Until we know what happened, I really can’t confirm that it’s related, but you always have to assume until it’s proven otherwise.”
The newspaper reported that authorities were providing security at the homes of others who feared they could also be targeted.
A statewide bulletin in December said the Aryan Brotherhood — an organized crime syndicate — was “actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials,” the paper said.
Authorities are also probing whether Hasse’s shooting was linked to the killing of a Colorado prison chief on March 19.
The suspect in that shooting is Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a white supremacist with a criminal history spanning a decade, who was shot and killed after a standoff with sheriff’s deputies.
However, authorities have not found evidence tying Ebel to Hasse’s murder, the Dallas paper said.