Posted on 12/30/2012 12:23:08 AM PST by fella
'I'm so glad I lived': Cibolo man shot up by former co-worker .
by Dillon Collier / KENS 5 Bio | Email | Follow: @dilloncollier
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Updated yesterday at 11:01 AM
CIBOLO, Texas -- Police say a Bexar County man shot a former co-worker several times on Friday morning before driving to a nearby subdivision and turning the gun on himself
Robert Merrick, 38, was shot twice through the neck and once through the leg while attempting to flee from 49-year-old Paul Michael Horton.
Horton allegedly confronted Merrick at the end of Merrick's driveway in the 100 block of Borgfeld Road around 7:20 a.m.
"He skidded to a halt, was waiting for me and got out of his car and raised his pistol," Merrick said.
The victim said Horton fired several rounds from a large pistol into the driver's side door, then several more shots into the back of Merrick's Hyundai as he sped off.
"I thought I was going to die because I'd been hit in the head and the neck and it was a big gun," Merrick said.
Horton followed Merrick for a few blocks before turning into the Bentwood Ranch subdivision.
According to Cibolo police, Horton took his own life around 8 a.m. at the subdivision's community facility.
Merrick drove himself to the Cibolo Police Department and was then rushed to San Antonio Military Medical Center.
"I was scared and I didn't want him to chase me and finish me off," he said. "I just wanted to go somewhere where someone had a gun to protect me."
Merrick and Horton were once co-workers at DOCUMation, a business technology company in San Antonio.
Merrick left the company in late October of this year, and Horton left in early November.
DOCUMation Senior Vice-President John Barbieri told KENS 5 the two men were friends while they worked for the company.
"We feel horrible at what happened today," Barbieri said.
Merrick said he told managers several times that Horton had a federal criminal record and was often high on methamphetamine while at work.
Barbieri would neither confirm nor deny those complaints.
Federal court records show that Horton was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2007 after being convicted of being a methamphetamine user in possession of explosives.
Merrick was released from the hospital Friday afternoon with two large wounds on the back of his neck. He said bullets came a few centimeters from hitting his spinal cord.
"I lived. I'm so glad I lived," Merrick said.
"I just wanted to go somewhere where someone had a gun to protect me."
“They were friends while working there”??
Sounds more like a long history of animosity.
Of course.
But the victim here seems to have been trying very hard to get the other one fired over a long period of time. A bit beyond normal likes and dislikes.
The gun did it - he said it was a “big gun” ...
This whole story smells funny somehow!?!? .....?
When you are getting shot at they all seem big.
Sounds more like a long history of animosity.
*******
Based upon the following you maybe correct.
snip
Merrick told investigators the two men had a history at their former job.
“We understand there was a problem that occurred several months ago,” said Cibolo police Chief Gary Cox.”Mr. Merrick believes this former co-worker held a grudge and came there this morning to act upon that.”
end snip
A short interview with Merrick at the above link...
Gotta ask - How big was it?
Back in Cubas pre-Castro days a bunch of us Navy guys got blitzed and took a wrong turn down a pier. Back then they had a Maritime Police and one of 'em threw down on us yelling "ALTO! ALTO!". I looked down the barrel of that 7MM and felt like I was staring at the open end of a garbage can. Sobered up straight away.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/txe/News/2007/EDTX_TYLER061107.html
PAUL MICHAEL HORTON, 43, of Jacksonville, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for being a methamphetamine user in possession of explosives.
According to information presented in court, Horton was arrested last summer after law enforcement authorities found twenty five one pound canisters of black powder with a length of fuse inserted into a one pound canister of Pyrodex explosives in a safe at his residence during a search warrant. Horton admitted that he possessed explosives at his home in Cherokee County in June of 2006 and that he was a methamphetamine user, which prohibits him from receiving or possessing explosives under federal law. Horton was indicted on July 11, 2006 and charged with possessing a destructive device.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Gregg Marchessault appeared in court for Jim Middleton, who was the lead prosecutor in the case.
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