Police in Texas, USA say that a man suspected of a recent homicide was obsessed with the coworker he killed, and claimed that her “long breaks” were the main reason for the murder.
Travis Merrill, 51, was arrested after he allegedly shot and killed his coworker Tamhara Collazo at her office desk on Thursday last week.
The two both worked at an Allegiance Trucks office in Lewisville, which is roughly 30 miles north of Dallas, Texas.
Police say that Merrill opened fire on Thursday afternoon after the victim came back from a lunch break. She was rushed to a hospital but died from her injuries.
“As she re-entered after lunch, he followed her inside to her cubicle and ‘ambushed’ her, firing the gun several times,” an affidavit obtained by FOX 4 Dallas describes.
The court document revealed that Merrill admitted to being “obsessed” with the victim and was preoccupied with the breaks she took at work. The suspect said that he meticulously kept track of what days Merrill took breaks and how lengthy they were.
“[Merrill said he] was obsessed with Collazo and began getting ever increasingly angry by her taking what he considered to be unauthorized long breaks during work hours, as well as not paying any attention to him,” the document read.
Collazo got wind of Merrill’s concerning behaviour and reported him to the company’s HR department.
The suspect was then ordered by HR to seek counselling before he returned to work.
Merrill also told police that Collazo avoided him at work after she had reported him, which angered him. He then bought firearms and even told police that he had brought the guns to work on several occasions.
Merrill claimed that the victim had “caused him pain, and he wanted her to feel pain, so he intentionally planned to shoot her at work with everyone there,” per FOX 4.
Allegiance Trucks released a statement expressing its devastation over the incident and noted that its Lewisville office is closed in the wake of the shooting.
“The company is providing support to the victim’s family and the rest of our employees who, thankfully, were unharmed, and we have closed our Lewisville office indefinitely. We are also working closely with law enforcement during their ongoing investigation,” Allegiance Trucks said.
“We ask for the community’s support as our company has unfortunately joined the growing national community of workplaces affected by gun violence.”
