The Kaufman County District Attorney and his wife were killed in their home in Texas by killers using a style common to drug mafia. Mike McClelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, were fatally shot over Easter weekend. Another prosecutor, Mark Hasse, had been similarly gunned down outside the county courthouse in late January.
Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said investigators were examining whether the killings of the District Attorney, and the Assistant District Attorney in the same county, are somehow linked. At least that’s what the police chief told Dallas Morning News.
According to reports, the Texas Department of Public Safety had warned officials that the Aryan Brotherhood Texas prison gang was planning a retaliation following 34 members of the gang being indicted by a Houston grand jury. That angle is also being investigated.
Authorities are also investigating whether the murders are linked in any manner with the recent killing of Tom Clements, the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, who was shot to death after answering his front door.
The gun that had been used to kill Clements in Colorado, was later identified as previously owned by a white supremacist, part of the Colorado 211 gang, who was killed by police in Kaufman County.
However, Mike Vigil, the retired chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration said the link of the killings to drug cartels was clear.
Vigil said, “It really paints a portrait of individuals who are either affiliated with Mexican drug trafficking organizations – either directly or indirectly – or individuals who have learned (their) tactics.”
The Aryan Brotherhood remains a suspect, because in February, McClelland had told the Dallas Morning News that while the Aryan Brotherhood had been hurt in his jurisdiction, he wasn’t scared for his own safety.