
Gunman Opens Fire at Texas Band Competition, Injuring One
A group of Pearland dads jumped into action Saturday night, stopping an armed suspect at Pasadena Memorial High School after gunfire sent crowds into a panic.
The four men- Air Force veteran Abram Trevino, Army veteran Adam Curow, Marine Corps veteran Efrain ‘Polo’ Castillo, and Houston police sergeant Joe Sanchez—all part of a group known as the Pearland 'Band Dads' were helping out at a band competition when chaos broke out.
“People were running and screaming, ‘Active shooter!’” Sanchez said.
Pearland Band Dads Jump Into Action
The dads immediately rushed toward the commotion. Inside, they saw a man struggling to hold down the suspect. Without hesitation, they stepped in.
“I grabbed his arms while Adam took the gun,” Sanchez said. With no handcuffs, he used his belt to restrain the suspect.
Cell phone video captured the moment the Pearland Band Dads held the man down. Curow, who disarmed the suspect, made sure the gun was secure.
“I put it behind my back so no one else could grab it,” Curow said.
The suspect, identified as 83-year-old Dennis Erwin Brandl Jr., told police he believed someone was chasing him and trying to kill him. He left his home in Spring and ended up at the school, where police say he shot a man in his 20s. The victim is expected to recover.
Witnesses, including band directors and parents, called the dads heroes.
Pearland High School’s Director of Percussion Clay Jasper witnessed the dads jump into action,
“It was incredible but also not unexpected, because, I say this all the time to everybody, but the Pearland community is built different, and all these band parents are just different, and they’re incredible...it was not unexpected to see them jump in like that and just do what needs to be done, because that’s what they do in this community, and for the band program and for the school as a whole,” Jasper said.
Brandl Jr. is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is awaiting transfer to the Harris County Jail. No bond has been set.
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Gallery Credit: Amazon