Gunfight Near Texas University Campus Leaves 3 Dead

A deadly shootout erupted Monday near the Texas A&M University campus when a man being brought an eviction notice opened fire on a Texas law enforcement officer, leaving three people dead, including the officer and the gunman.

A 65-year-old man also died, while three other law enforcement officers and a 55-year-old woman were wounded, in the shootings at an off-campus home not far from the university's football stadium, College Station Assistant Police Chief Scott McCollum said.

Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann 41, a Brazos County sheriff's deputy since 1993, had gone to a home with an eviction notice just after 12 p.m., McCollum said. A man in his mid-30s who lived there opened fire from inside, he added.

Officers responding to calls describing an officer down saw Bachmann wounded on the ground in the front yard, then got into what McCollum described as an extended shootout with the gunman, who eventually was shot.

Both Bachmann and the gunman were later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The woman had surgery Monday afternoon, and one of the injured officers had been treated for a gunshot wound in the calf, McCollum said. Two other officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries, but McCollum did not state how they were hurt.

The shootings prompted Texas A&M to issue an emergency alert warning for students and residents to stay away from the area. Most of the university's 50,000 students were not on the campus which is about 90 miles northwest of Houston because the fall semester doesn't start until Aug. 27, university spokeswoman Sherylon Carroll said.

“It appeared to be fairly quiet,” Carroll said of campus. “It didn't appear to be a lot of people out and about at that particular time.”

Officers, meanwhile, were dealing with losing someone McCollum called a respected colleague.

“Brian Bachmann was very close to everyone in law enforcement,” McCollum said. “He was a pillar in this community, and it's sad and tragic that we've lost him today.”

Bachmann started out with the Hempstead Police Department before spending most of his career with the Brazos County Sheriff's Office. He had been a constable since January 2011 after winning election to the post the prior November.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an A&M alumnus, said at an event in Florida that his “prayers are with any of those that have been injured.” A&M President R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement calling Monday a “sad day in the Bryan-College Station community.”