What We Know About the College Kid Charged with Murdering a Campus Cop

Texas Tech University student Hollis Daniels wasn't in his dorm when the officers arrived, but his drug paraphernalia reportedly was.

According to Newsweek, the Texas Tech cops went to perform a welfare check on the 19-year-old communications student after his mom said he might be suicidal and in possession of a weapon. After checking out his dorm, officers reportedly found drug paraphernalia, but no Daniels, so they decided to wait for him to come home to bring him in for questioning, KCBD reports. That's when a routine welfare check turned into something else entirely.

Cops then brought Daniels in to the Texas Tech police station for questioning, leaving him uncuffed with the officer who was filling out the paperwork related to his arrest for possession. A corporal then said he heard a loud bang from the next room and rushed in to find his colleague, Floyd East Jr., dead from a gunshot wound to the head and stripped of his body cam. Although his gun was still holstered to his side, a .45 shell casing was reportedly found near his body. Meanwhile, Daniels had taken off.

The school then went on lockdown until cops managed to capture Daniels at around 9:30 PM. Later, he reportedly confessed to killing the 48-year-old cop, telling officers that he had "fucked up" and did "something illogical," according to his arrest warrant. It's unclear how Daniels managed to get into the police station armed, or why he allegedly shot East Jr., but his Facebook activity does not suggest any extremist views. He had, however, been charged two times previously for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia—though it's unclear if East Jr. had anything to do with that arrest, as Newsweek points out.

It's legal for people 21 and older to carry a concealed firearm at public universities in Texas, though Daniels is just 19. During a press conference held late Tuesday, officials didn't say why Daniels was not wearing handcuffs at the time of the incident, or why he was left alone with a single campus cop.

Daniels is from Seguin, which is a town about 40 miles northeast of San Antonio, where his father served for several years as a city councilman. As of Tuesday, Daniels was being held at the Lubbock County jail on charges of capital murder, and his bail has been set at $5 million.

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