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Paroled Murderer Kills Bystander, Wounds Wife, Then Himself Outside Texas Plant

Police named the gunman as Wendell Lane Champion Jr., a 40-year-old on parole for a 2010 Harris County murder.

Overview

  • The parking-lot shooting at Texarkana Aluminum, which erupted around 6:37 a.m. Tuesday, left an employee and the gunman dead and the gunman’s wife injured.
  • Police said the violence began as a domestic confrontation between Wendell Lane Champion Jr. and his wife, and employee Eddie Ray Hill Jr., 48, was shot when he tried to intervene.
  • Candis Jolene Champion, 37, an employee at the plant, is being treated at a Texarkana hospital and is in stable condition.
  • Court records show Champion was convicted of first-degree murder in Harris County in 2010 and released on parole in 2025.
  • Nash police reported no other suspects or ongoing public threat as Texarkana Aluminum deployed a crisis-response team for employees.