The warning signs had abounded: The suspect had already been probed by federal prosecutors, who were so concerned that they referred him to the FBI. Multiple descriptions had painted him as callous and openly racist, a pattern that culminated with a killing Tuesday for which he and his brother have been arrested.
We’re not talking about a school shooter or a hardened member of a gang or anti-government militia — but about Michael Sheppard, until a few days ago the warden of the notorious West Texas Detention Facility, a privately run ICE detention center with a history of abuse toward the people in its custody.
The 60-year-old Sheppard and his twin, Mark, have been charged by authorities in Texas with killing one person and wounding another in a potential hate crime Tuesday night. According to surviving witnesses, who along with the victims were recently arrived migrants walking along a rural road in a county outside El Paso, the Sheppards drove up to them in a truck and hurled insults before Mike stepped out of the car and opened fire, killing a man immediately and sending a woman to the hospital.
