By Robert Kleeman, Daily Texan: U. Texas
University Wire
AUSTIN, Texas — A man accused last weekend of forcing Austin police into a 16-hour hostage standoff, shooting at a police officer and setting a housing complex on fire, told officers he wanted to upstage the killing spree at Virginia Tech, according to his arrest affidavit.
Jerel A. Lamar faces an attempted capital murder charge, and, if convicted of the first-degree felony, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Police set his bond at $400,000 Tuesday afternoon.
Austin Police Department officers responded to a call from a resident who said two men were scuffling with a gun in the 6200 block of Hyside Drive. The same caller re-dialed 911 and told police one of the males removed a rifle from a truck and placed it in an undisclosed location, according to the affidavit.
When Cpl. Michael Barger arrived, a man with a white undershirt had another man in a black undershirt in a headlock, according to the affidavit. The man in the white undershirt entered a nearby residence and re-emerged with the rifle in hand.
The man with the gun, Jerel Lamar, was having an altercation with his brother, JA Andre Lamar, police alleged in the affidavit.
“As soon as I got there, I walked up to my brother to see what was going on,” JA Andre Lamar told police. “He told me that he was going to go on a killing spree. Jerel told me that he was going to make the recent mass murder at Virginia Tech look like a walk in the park.”
Jerel, referred to in the affidavit as “Detroit,” allegedly then fired at Barger’s police car. Barger allegedly returned fire, striking Jerel twice in the leg.
The suspect fled the scene, barricading himself into a nearby residence at 3101 Edgedale Drive Apt. A, according to the affidavit. What ensued was a more than 15-hour standoff with law enforcement that forced police to call a SWAT team and crisis negotiators to the scene.
Police said a female hostage exited the Edgedale residence less than two hours before Jerel allegedly lit the complex on fire. Police launched tear gas through the doorway, then swarmed the suspect when he emerged to escape the fumes.
“If you were there and heard Detroit, you would be scared too at what he was saying,” witness Philip Edwin Dockery said in the affidavit.
Barger has been placed on administrative leave, a standard practice when an officer uses deadly force.
Police have previously arrested Jerel Lamar for six crimes, including robbery, aggravated assault and family violence assault, according to the affidavit.
Copyright 2007 Daily Texan via U-Wire