Affidavits describe timeline in Plano mass murder
Newly-released police documents provide first witness accounts from the Plano mass murder investigation after a gunman shot 9 people in his estranged wife’s house.
The affidavits provide the disturbing timeline and the arsenal that 32-year-old Spencer Hight used apparently to exact revenge against his ex-wife and their friends, some of whom stood in their wedding.
Spencer was shot and killed by police after he opened fire inside Meredith Hight’s home on Spring Creek Parkway during a Cowboys watch party in early September.
Spencer shot and killed Meredith Hight, 27, Anthony Michael Cross, 33, Olivia Nicole Deffner, 24, James Richard Dunlop, 29, Darryl William Hawkins, 22, Rion Christopher Morgan, 31, Myah Sade Bass, 28, and Caleb Seth Edwards, 25. Carly Shockey was the sole survivor of the shooting after she was shot in the jaw.
According to search warrant affidavits, Spencer first showed up with weapons at the Local Public House, a bar just three blocks away from the murder scene.
An affidavit from a bartender says she called police and told them she “observed the suspect with a pistol and a knife and stated that she was following him on Spring Creek Parkway to the home where the murders happened but drove away before the shooting started.”
Another affidavit from a woman who was in the backyard of the home says she told police “she heard the victim Meredith Hight telling the suspect, ‘Did you really have to do this?’ then heard more gunshots and observed the suspect shoot at a Plano police officer after which she heard additional gunshots."
The affidavits describe Spencer as being heavily armed with a pistol, a semi-automatic rifle and a knife.
Attorney Pete Schulte, who is not connected with the case, says the number of weapons involved is alarming.
"This was a man on a mission,” he said. “I mean he went in there to either kill his ex-wife or kill everybody around. We'll never know."
The search of Spencer’s Plano apartment revealed even more weapons and ammunition. Court documents show police recovered more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a Ruger 22 rifle, multiple magazines, holsters and drugs.
The affidavit shows more than two ounces of marijuana were found and more than a pound of hallucinogenic mushrooms along with other drug paraphernalia.
Even though the gunman is dead, Schulte says there's good reason the case is still open after police have gathered so much evidence.
"They just want to make sure that enough time has elapsed that there's nothing else that's going to pop off that may be related to the situation,” the attorney said. “This was a big deal. This is the worst crime the city of Plano has seen so they're going to take their time."