The spot where Haskins was gunned down Sunday is less than a half-mile from the Dollar Store on W. Stan Schlueter Loop where store employees Sheila Reed, 40, of Killeen, and Gricelda Ramos, 28, of Killeen, died July 4 from gunshot wounds in a case yet to be solved.
Ten days later and less than two miles away in the 4300 block of Hondo, 39-year-old Therion Green was found dead on his couch from a gunshot wound.
Asked if police suspect a connection in the four shootings, Killeen Police Spokeswoman Carroll Smith said investigators are making no connection whatsoever.
She said officers went to a fourplex in the 4400 block of Alan Kent Drive in response to a report of a shooting and found Haskins on the ground.
Witnesses reported hearing a shot fired after a fracas broke out in the parking lot, she said. Haskins was sent by air ambulance to Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple where he was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m. Sunday.
Justice of the Peace David Barfield of Temple ordered Haskins’ remains sent to Dallas for autopsy.
The neighborhood where the shooting took place is in the city’s southwest sector, a treeless expanse of cookie-cutter fourplexes with concrete parking aprons for front yards.
Two Killeen police cars slowly patrolled the area Monday afternoon, and teenagers hung out in the parking lots up and down the street.
When asked about the shooting, one teen shouted, “No, no, no! We won’t talk!”
A chorus of other voices from teens in nearby parking lots joined in the chant.
Also on Sunday, an unrelated shooting took place in the 3400 block of Victoria Circle across town.
Ms. Smith said a 17-year-old boy was shot during an altercation at about 8:55 p.m. and taken to the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center emergency room.
“He was treated for non-life-threatening wounds,” she said.
“This shooting is not connected to the one on Alan Kent Drive and we know all the parties involved in the incident,” Ms. Smith said.
Smith said the investigation into the shootings continue. She asked anyone with knowledge about either incident to call the Killeen Police Department at (254) 501-8800 or Crime Stoppers at (254) 526-8477.
hclark@temple-telegram.com
