Pasadena, Texas — A parent tackled a man who opened fire during a band competition at a Houston-area high school, and several others assisted in disarming and detaining him in the shooting, which injured one person, according to officials.
The man, in his 80s, entered Pasadena Memorial High School on Saturday evening during the competition, which included students from multiple school districts, and discharged a small-caliber weapon, according to police.
According to the Angleton Independent School District, the wounded person was a percussion technical consultant for their band. Police said the man, who was struck in the shoulder, was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.
According to the Pasadena Independent School District, the man who opened fire had no affiliation with the competition. He was tackled by a parent after discharging the weapon, and school district police and “several good Samaritans” assisted in apprehending him, according to the district.
“Within 60 seconds, a suspect was disarmed, and they prevented further shooting by this suspect,” Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Wright said during a news conference.
The Pearland Independent School District said in a statement that some of their students’ parents “bravely intervened, successfully subduing the individual and detaining them until law enforcement arrived.”
How the incident unfolded
According to CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV, the parents were fathers who helped with the competition.
The four — 13-year Air Force veteran Abram Trevino, 14-year Army veteran Adam Curow, 4-year Marine Corps veteran Efrain ‘Polo’ Castillo, and long-time Houston police sergeant Joe Sanchez — rushed to action.
They are members of the Pearland Band Dads, who assist with band-related activities at Pearland High School. Students from the school participated in Saturday’s competition.
The fathers told KHOU they were moving equipment when they heard a lot of noise.
“People were coming out screaming, saying, ‘Active shooter, active shooter,’ so me and Polo were with the same prop, dropped everything and ran through the lobby door,” Sanchez told the reporter.
Sanchez stated that another man had already begun to subdue the suspect before he and the other three Pearland Band Dads intervened.
“I grabbed his arms while Adam took the gun out, and once the gun was removed from his hand, we had no handcuffs, so I took off my belt, made handcuffs, got his right arm secured, got his left arm secured,” Sanchez told the press.
Possible motive
Dennis Erwin Brandl, Jr., 83, has been identified as the suspect by the Pasadena Police Department. According to police, Brandl, Jr. told officers he believed he was being pursued and that he and his wife were about to be killed. He left his home in the spring and ended up in Pasadena, where he went to school.
Curow claims he heard something similar directly from Brandl, Jr. on the night of the shooting.
“When the suspect was on the ground, he kept saying, ‘Someone’s trying to shoot me, someone’s trying to shoot me,’ and we would look around or scan the area to see if there was another or potential second person who could be the person he was referring to, but there wasn’t. “It was all spectators, students, and parents,” Curow explained.