East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

Update: Charges have been upgraded to first-degree murder, according to Rusk County officials. He is still awaiting arraignment on the charge.

CARLISLE — One man is dead and detectives are trying to determine if he was shot because he broke into a home or if there was another motive.

Because the deceased man — identified as Michael Knight,18, of Carlisle — was found sitting in a chair, the latter is believed to be the case.

Rusk County Sheriff Chief Deputy Darryl Norris said a man, identified by his grandparents as Brence Darragh, called the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office about 9:30 Tuesday morning and reported there was an intruder in his home on County Road 488D, about one mile west of Carlisle.

“Originally the call came in as a break-in but we’re thinking that story just doesn’t fly,” he said standing in front of the ranch-style home with a tin roof.

Wiping the sweat from his face, Norris continued, saying there was a dent in the front door, but it was not consistent with the man’s story of how the deceased man broke in.

“I haven’t heard the tapes yet, but our dispatcher said the man was saying he was going to have to shoot the other guy who was supposedly breaking in,” he said. “Deputies and everyone at the office came running because we thought we had a homeowner being confronted by an armed burglar.”

Resting against the wall of the home on the front porch was a 30.30 rifle believed to be the weapon used in the shooting. A knife was found in the home, but Norris said it was on a table and not near the deceased man.

The yard filled with yellow flowers had several yellow markers indicating drug paraphernalia.

“We’re waiting on a search warrant so we don’t know if there are any drugs in the house or not at this time, but there was stuff in the yard indicating drug use was going on here,” Norris said.

He added that a woman was at the home at the time of the shooting, but she was telling stories that varied in accuracy.

“We will talk to them both and maybe they will tell us what went on out here, but I just don’t think this was a burglary at this time,” he said.

Darragh’s grandmother, Pauline Darragh, said there had been someone harassing her grandson and that her son’s home had been broken into several times in the past year.

“I know that (Brence) hadn’t slept there a few nights because he was afraid of someone,” she said at her home, a football field away from the crime scene.

Rusk County District Attorney Investigator William Brown said detectives found marijuana cigarettes, crack pipes, several cell phones and a disassembled meth lab in the home.

Brown said Darragh was booked into the Rusk County Jail on a manslaughter charge, a second degree felony. He also said the charge is expected to be upgraded sometime today to first degree murder.

Brown said that according to witnesses the shooting was a drug-related deal gone bad.

“The detectives are still interviewing the other parties and still trying to put everything together,” he said.

Unidentified funeral home personnel load the body of the victim in the homicide that occurred on County Road 488D, one mile west of Highway 13 in Rusk County on Tuesday.
((Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero))