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Texas Tech Police Officer Shot Dead After Student Is Busted for Drugs

A Texas Tech campus police officer tackled the suspect near the football stadium in Lubbock. He was identified as a 19-year-old freshman.
Image: Hollis Alvin Daniels
Hollis Alvin DanielsLubbock County Sheriff's Office / Lubbock County Sheriff's Office

A Texas Tech University police officer was shot dead Monday after bringing a student into custody at the campus police headquarters, authorities said.

A call for a student "welfare check" led campus officers to a room where they found drugs and drug paraphernalia, prompting the officers to take the student to the station, a university spokesman said in a statement.

University Police Chief Kyle Bonath said late Monday that the suspect, identified by authorities as Hollis A. Daniels, was being processed for jail on the drug evidence at the TTU police station.

While in custody, Daniels was sitting with an officer completing processing paperwork, according to an affidavit. Daniels was not wearing handcuffs.

An officer left the room where Daniels and the officer filling out paperwork were sitting, and shortly after heard a loud bang. The officer returned to find the officer shot with a .45 caliber shell casing nearby, according to the affidavit. Daniels was gone.

The chief said the suspect then fled and was later tackled by another campus officer and arrested near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. A university lockdown was lifted after about an hour.

Daniels ripped off the officer's body camera after the shooting, but the camera was later recovered by police along with a .45 caliber pistol, according to the affidavit.

After being apprehended, Daniels told officers that "he was the one that shot their friend," according to the affidavit, adding he "f---ed up" and he did "something illogical."

Daniels was charged with capital murder of a peace officer and held on a $5 million bond, according to the Lubbock County sheriff's office.

Image: Hollis Alvin Daniels
Hollis Alvin DanielsLubbock County Sheriff's Office / Lubbock County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff's officials told NBC affiliate KCBD that Daniels is a 19-year-old freshman from Seguin, near San Antonio.

"The family of the deceased officer will be in the prayers of the entire Texas Tech community," the university's president, Lawrence Schovanec, said. "In the coming days we’ll be offering our full support to that family."