Pasadena, Texas — A parent tackled a man who opened fire during a band competition at a Houston-area high school as several other people then helped disarm and detain him in a shooting that wounded one person, officials said.
The man, in his 80s, entered Pasadena Memorial High School on Saturday evening during the competition that involved students from numerous school districts and discharged a small-caliber weapon, police said.
The Angleton Independent School District said the wounded person was a percussion technical consultant for their band. Police said the man, who the district said was struck in the shoulder, was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.
The man who opened fire wasn’t affiliated with the competition, according to the Pasadena Independent School District. He was tackled by a parent after discharging the weapon and then school district police and “several good Samaritans” helped apprehend him, the district said.
“Within 60 seconds, a suspect was disarmed and they prevented further shooting by this suspect,” Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Wright said at a news conference.
The Pearland Independent School District said in a statement that some parents of the students in their district “bravely intervened, successfully subduing the individual and detaining them until law enforcement arrived.”
How the incident unfolded
CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV reports that the parents were fathers who were helping 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 — quickly jumped into action.
They’re part of what’s known as the Pearland Band Dads, and they help with band-related activities for Pearland High School. Students form the school were among those in Saturday’s competition.
The fathers told KHOU they were moving equipment around when they noticed a lot of commotion.
“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 said.
Sanchez said another man had already started to subdue the suspect, but then he and the other three Pearland Band Dads got involved.
“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 said.
Possible motive
The Pasadena Police Department identified the suspect as 83-year-old Dennis Erwin Brandl, Jr. Police said Brandl, Jr. told officers he thought he was being chased by someone and feared he and his wife were going to be killed. He left his home in Spring and ended up in Pasadena, where he then went into the school.
Curow said 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 maybe there was an additional or potential second person that may be the person he’s referencing, but there was nobody. It was all spectators, students and parents,” Curow said.
