Court documents provide chilling new details in a North Texas workplace shooting that ended with a woman dead and her male co-worker charged with murder.
Lewisville police responded to an ‘active shooter’ call Thursday afternoon, Oct. 17, at Allegiance Trucking on Lakeway Drive.
Officers responded quickly and on foot because the police department’s temporary building shares a parking lot with the trucking accessory company.
Employees immediately identified the shooter, who surrendered to police without incident.
The victim, identified by police as Tahmara Collazo, suffered five gunshot wounds and died at the hospital.
Travis Merrill, 51, is charged with murder and is in the Denton County Jail on a $10 million bond.
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According to the probable cause affidavit, Merrill agreed to speak with the detective on the case.
Merrill allegedly confessed to the attack, telling police he was ‘obsessed with Collazo’ and became increasingly angry over her long unauthorized breaks and her ‘not paying any attention’ to him.
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The affidavit did not mention specific dates or a timeline of events, but at one point, Collazo reported Merrill’s behavior to the administration.
He was made to speak with a counselor on the phone before being allowed back at work.
Upon returning to his job, Merrill told police he felt like his colleagues probably considered him ‘a psychopath.’ When Collazo began intentionally avoiding him, he said it fueled his anger, so he started to purchase guns.
Merrill allegedly went on to say his co-worker ‘had caused him pain, and he wanted her to feel pain, so he intentionally planned to shoot her at work with everyone there,’ according to the affidavit.
Merrill said he contemplated taking action on at least two occasions, including driving to work on his day off and sitting in the parking lot.
Merrill allegedly admitted to following Collazo out to the parking on her lunch break last Thursday, ‘readied his guns,’ waited, and followed the unsuspecting woman to her cubicle, “ambushing her” in front of horrified co-workers.
It's unclear if Merrill has obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'acts of violence' are the third leading cause of deadly work injuries in the U.S.
