Texas Tech Sigma Chi Suffers Another Senseless Loss
 

This was in the Lubbock paper today. These guys have been hit hard this year--Colin is the third Tech Sigma Chi to die needlessly this year. Please keep this chapter in your prayers--and pray that they catch the scum that did this...this kind of thing does not happen in Lubbock.

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Tech student slain at ATM


BY JOHN REYNOLDS
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech student Colin Matthew Schafer was shot to death Wednesday morning near a busy intersection in Southwest Lubbock.

Because the shooting took place at an automated banking machine, police are investigating the crime as a possible robbery, Capt. Thomas Esparza said.

Police responding to a shots-fired call at 5:51 a.m. found Schafer, who had been shot twice in the torso, police spokesman Bill Morgan said.

The 21-year-old was found sitting in the driver's seat of a Jeep Cher o kee parked at a Bank of Amer ica machine at the southeast corner of 50th Street and Slide Road.

He was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. at University Medical Center, Morgan said.

Employees of the nearby Copper Caboose restaurant reported seeing a black or gray, early-'80s, four-door Cadillac in the parking lot near the automated teller machine, Esparza said.

"Witnesses heard two gunshots and then saw what they believed to be a white man get into the Cadillac" on the passenger side, he said.

Witnesses described the firearm as a long gun — either a rifle or a shotgun, Morgan said.

The Cadillac left northbound on Slide Road, he said.

"Several scenarios could have happened out there," Es parza said. "We just don't know.

"I've got every man I can working on it."

The ATM was equipped with a video surveillance camera.

"We did take the tape into custody," Esparza said. "We're currently trying to pull the information off of it."

Bank of America spokes man Will Holford said crews service their ATMs and check the surveillance cameras on a regular basis.

Depending on volume, a machine might be serviced as frequently as a couple of times daily, he said.

Holford did not know how often that particular machine was serviced. Because the machine was not connected to a banking center, it may not have been serviced daily.

Security mechanisms at an ATM consist of bright lighting and the camera, Holford said.

However, a functioning vid eo camera does not guarantee the killer's face was captured on film.

"The view is limited to what was happening right in front of the camera," he said.

Calling Lubbock a "tight-knit community," Holford said Bank of America employees were "saddened by the loss."

The death stunned Tech students and staff, including Schafer's Sigma Chi fraternity brothers.

Tech President David Schmidly expressed the grief felt Wednesday on campus.

"The Texas Tech family is saddened by the tragic loss of Colin," Schmidly said in a news release. "This senseless crime hits the Texas Tech family doubly hard in that his mother has been a member of our staff. Our prayers and our thoughts are with Colin's family."

Schafer's mother had worked in the office of the Dean of Engineering until this week. She had been planning to change jobs and move to Waco, Tech spokeswoman Cindy Ruge ley said.

A woman answering the phone at the Schafer residence Wednesday afternoon said the family had no comment.

Schafer was a business major in his junior year, Rugeley said.

"There are no words to express our sadness, or our disbelief" Tech Chancellor David R. Smith said in a separate release. "We are all grieving over this senseless loss.

"The Texas Tech community is close, and any loss, particularly one as pointless as this, affects each of us deeply and personally."

Sigma Chi brother Mark Hamilton said Schafer was a "great person to talk to and a great friend."

Hamilton, who is the fraternity's vice president, de scribed Schafer as someone who "didn't talk a lot but was extremely laid back."

Schafer is "our third brother to lose this year," Hamilton said. It's been "a really tough year for us. It kind of drives everyone down."

Two fraternity brothers died in a traffic wreck during spring break, he said.

After pledge season, the fraternity plans to hold a memorial ceremony for Schafer, he said.

The fraternity house served as a focus of grief for Schafer's friends Wednesday.

Members congregated to support each other while other people left flowers and notes of sympathy at the door, Hamilton said.

However, "our biggest concern is his family," Hamilton said. "He had a lot of friends in the fraternity, but family comes first."

Sigma Chi suggests memorials to the Children's Miracle Network in Schafer's name, Hamilton said.

Personnel from Tech's Counseling Center will talk with individuals and small groups upon request. For more information, call 742-3674.

People with information on the shooting are urged to call Crime Line at 741-1000 or the Crimes Against Persons division at 775-2410.

Staying safe at ATMs
• At night, only use brightly lit ATMs free of visual obstructions.

• If you see any suspicious activity around an ATM, stay away and call police.

• Always be aware of your surroundings, especially at night.

Source: Will Holford, Bank of America

WoW! That is really terrible and so sad! I certainly hope they find the sicko who killed him! And for what? Money? SO SAD!

Hootie

Caught the Guy
 

I know this isn't a conviction, but it must be a relief to the family-not to mention everyone else in Lubbock.

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Juvenile charged in ATM murder


Police have charged a 16-year-old juvenile with capital murder in connection with the Aug. 14 shooting death of 21-year-old Colin Schafer.

Investigators expect to also file capital murder charges against a 19-year-old in connection to the Schafer case this afternoon, police Sgt. John Gomez said.

The 19-year-old was already in custody on other charges, Gomez said.

Schafer was killed about 6 a.m. at a Bank of America ATM near the intersection of Slide Road and 50th Street.

The juvenile was already being held at the Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center in connection to an aggravated assault early Thursday morning, Gomez said.

The juvenile will appear before a judge this afternoon, Gomez said.

The juvenile was arrested Thursday afternoon along with Joe Gonzales, 19, after they were implicated in a shooting at 5311 47th St. hours earlier, Gomez said.

They showed up at the residence after someone at the house contacted them via cell phone to buy drugs, police reports said.

Gonzales and the juvenile fought with the man and later shot several times at the house, hitting the front door three times, reports said.

The patrol officer who worked Thursday's shooting noted certain similarities between that incident and the Schafer murder and alerted homicide investigators, Gomez said.

Gomez credited the officer's "good, good police work" that led investigators to bring charges in the Schafer case.

At 5:00 a.m.?
 

What is any decent person doing at an ATM at 5:00 in th morning?

Money for Waffle House. They don't take credit cards. I've been to the ATM that early in the AM.

I hope the juvenile is charged as an adult. "Think your a man, then take it like a man"

:(

:(
That's so senseless

Re: At 5:00 a.m.?
 

Interesting comment & assumption. It would be a shame to insinuate that the kid did something to deserve being shot to death for the mere fact that he was on the streets at a time when the streets are not normally busy, without any facts to back up that assumption....

Anyway, as the article below states, his killers have admitted that he was chosen at random.

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Murder suspects nabbed
Pair arrested in killing of Tech student


BY JOHN REYNOLDS
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Cousins Joe and Gabriel Gonzales were charged Friday with capital murder in connection to the recent shooting death of Colin Schafer at an automated teller machine, a crime they confessed was motivated by robbery.

The selection of the 21-year-old Texas Tech student as their victim appeared to be happenstance.

Joe Gonzales, 19, was arraigned Friday afternoon in Judge Aurora Chai des-Hernandez's courtroom. Bond was set at $5 million.

Deputies returned Joe Gonzales to Lubbock County Jail, where he had been held since Thursday on a count of deadly conduct in connection to a shooting after a dispute early that morning at a house in the 5300 block of 47th Street.


Gabriel Gonzales, who turned 17 Friday, originally was charged as a juvenile; however, the Criminal District Attorney's Office "will start the process of getting him certified as an adult," First Assistant Criminal District Attorney Matt Powell said.

Once certified, he will stand trial as an adult, although the death penalty will not be a sentencing option, Powell said.

Gabriel Gonzales also faces a deadly conduct charge in connection to Thursday's shooting, Powell said.

As for Joe Gonzales, "it's way too early in the game to decide whether we're seeking the death penalty," Powell said.


According to a voluntary statement made to investigators, Gabriel Gonzales "said that he and Jo Jo (Joe) went out cruising in the Cadillac looking for someone to rob."

After driving for two hours the morning of Aug. 14, Gabriel Gonzales spotted Schafer's white Jeep near 19th Street and Quaker Avenue and chose him as their victim, the statement said.

Schafer "was not in a situation that would have caused him to be killed," Powell said. "He was not engaged in any kind of activity that would lead him to be killed, in my opinion."

In fact, in Gabriel Gonzales' statement, he seemed to indicate he shot Schafer for no reason at all.

When Detective Doug Sutton asked, "Why did you shoot the boy after he gave you his money?" Gonzales replied, "Just for the (expletive) of it, detective."

Joe Gonzales, in his statement, told investigators he got involved in the robbery because he didn't trust his cousin with his car.

"I didn't want to let Gabriel have my car because it's my Cadillac," the statement said. "It's too nice a car to just loan out. So I tell Gabriel, let's go; I'll just take you."

The pair followed Schafer to his home, where Gabriel Gonzales forced him at gunpoint to drive to the Bank of America ATM near the intersection of 50th Street and Slide Road.

Joe Gonzales followed Schafer's Jeep.

He witnessed his cousin force Schafer to withdraw $300 — the maximum withdrawal — from the machine.

Afterward, the robbery turned deadly.

According to Joe Gonzales' statement, his cousin "just looked back into the car and I hear this 'boom, boom.' Gabriel, the crazy (expletive), actually just stands there, looking at the dude he just shot."

"It was like five or six seconds, and Gabriel is still just standing there ... like he was just watching the dude and what he had just done," Joe Gonzales told police, according to police documents.

The pair then fled in Joe Gonzales' dark blue Cadillac.

When asked by police why he hadn't reported the shooting to police, Joe Gonzales said, "Because I was scared that I was going to go down for it too. I didn't want to be like my dad and spend my life in prison," the report said.

Homicide Sgt. John Gomez credited the break in the case to Officer David Paulk, who noticed similarities between Thursday's shooting and the ATM murder.

In Thursday's incident, Joe Gonzales allegedly shot at the house after quarreling with a house guest, according to police reports.

Paulk brought the report to the attention of de tec tives, who were then able to move quickly against the cousins.

Detectives conducted a search Thursday afternoon at Joe Gonzales' residence at 5508-A 13th St.

They recovered Schafer's wallet, which had been partially burned in the fireplace, reports said. Detectives also found a burned paper with Schafer's name on it and a burned insurance card bearing his mother's name.

A 9 mm rifle was recovered from the house, and one spent 9 mm cartridge and one un fired 9 mm cartridge were found in the Cadillac, reports said.

It was "good, good police work on (Paulk's) part," Gomez said.

Gomez also singled out the work of the SWAT team that nabbed the Gonzales cousins without incident, and the Department of Public Safety, which allowed detectives to use their labs to process evidence.

Schafer's mother and older brother said they had mixed feelings on being told his killers were in custody.

"It gets us closer to healing," Susan Schafer said. "My son and I have been talking about this. In society, we have a tendency to focus on the criminal. I'm concentrating on how to live without Colin."

Dylan Schafer expressed satisfaction with the work police did to put his brother's accused killers behind bars.

"We're happy they do their job and do it well," he said. "We're putting our faith in the judicial system."

(Staff writer Elizabeth Lang ton contributed to this report.)

That makes me want to stay holed up in my apartment with my dog for the rest of my life.


Hoosier-- what could any decent person be doing at an ATM machine at 5:00 am? Let's see.....

* returning from working the night shift at a hospital
* going to work at a coffee shop
* picking up Nyquil for a sick girlfriend
* gassing up his car for a long drive



But yeah, he definately must have been selling drugs. Or using prostitutes. Or both. Which would make it OK for him to have been shot. Right?

Re: At 5:00 a.m.?
 

I find this to be an incredibly insensitive statement, hoosier. A young college student lost his life because of a random act of violence, and you have the audacity to insinuate that HE wasn't a decent person simply because he was at an automated teller machine at a non-peak time???? :mad:

I've been at ATMs at ungodly hours of the morning many times -- mostly due to work-related business trips that required me to leave extremely early in the day. Does the fact that I needed some cash to stop for a biscuit at McDonald's mean that I'm an indecent person? :rolleyes:

My heart goes out to this poor kid's family and friends. What a terrible tragedy! :( I'm glad that they caught the murderer and his accomplice, and I hope that they will be dealt with appropriately.