TOMBALL, Texas—The Texas family members police believe were killed Thursday by an escaped inmate with alleged links to the Mexican mafia have been identified as three brothers from suburban Houston, along with a cousin and their grandfather.
Family friends on Friday confirmed that 66-year-old Mark Collins was killed alongside his three grandchildren at the family’s ranch as the group was preparing for a fishing trip. He was with his grandchildren: 11-year-old Bryson and his three cousins, 11-year-old Hudson, 16-year-old Carson, and 18-year-old Waylon.
The eldest graduated from high school last week in the city of Tomball, where he played for the baseball team. He also served as an umpire for a local Little League.
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“We are devastated by the loss of our dear family members at the family ranch in Centerville, Texas,” the family said in a statement on Friday, before asking for privacy. “These precious people who loved and were loved by so many, will never be forgotten. The impact on their family and friends cannot be overstated.”
Mourners streamed in and out of a vigil set up Friday on the baseball field of Tomball High School, where Waylon Collins played. People were seen crying as they paid their respects to the family.
One man wearing the hat and shirt of the Tomball high school cougars baseball team offered people water and gave hugs to people passing by. He didn’t want to give his name to the press but through tears said, “I watched those boys grow up.”
Matthew Barnby, 19, knelt near a second memorial and paid his respects near the Javalinas little league team jersey that Bryson played for. “It just really hurts,” he said.
Barnby said he played junior high school football with Waylon for three years. He called him Collins.
“He was spectacular because of how he moved. Every time you gave him the ball he got at least 15 yards. Everybody loved to be around Collins,” he said.
The family was killed just hours before Gonzalo Lopez, who went missing in May after escaping from a prison bus, stole a pickup truck and was eventually killed by authorities in a dramatic shootout just south of San Antonio, over 200 miles from the Collins family cabin.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office, which responded to the cabin, did not name the victims on Friday. But they did provide more details on how the grisly attack went down. Authorities believe Lopez attacked the 66-year-old grandfather before attacking the other occupants inside the house—including the 18-year-old and three minors.
Jason Clark, the chief of staff at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told The Daily Beast that any motive for the grisly slaying was “unclear.” But authorities say that afterwards, he “stole clothes, firearms, and a vehicle” before fleeing. It was not immediately clear whether Lopez was already inside the home when the family entered it on Thursday for a fishing trip, as neighbors indicated to The Daily Beast—or if the inmate broke in later.
One of Mark Collins’ family members told The Daily Beast on Friday the grandfather was an “avid hunter” who passed that passion “on to his kids and grandkids,” noting that the ranch was where they would “hunt and fish often.”
A second memorial site was set up across the parking lot of the baseball field dedicated to Bryson.
Camilo Smith“The grandkids loved going up there,” the family member, who did not wish to be named out of respect for his other relatives, added. In regards to the fateful Thursday trip, he said that the event was “always on the schedule.”
“[Mark] would not have taken the kids if he thought it was still an issue,” he said, noting that Bryson’s 9-year-old brother also wanted to attend the family trip, but “couldn't for some reason.”
The family member also expressed outrage over the circumstances that led to the deaths of five of his loved ones—stating that Lopez’s escape and three-week stint on the lam “never should have happened.”
One family member who works at SSC Farm, a business outside of Houston that provides horse-riding lessons, told The Daily Beast they were not speaking out further because “at this time, we need space and time to grieve.”
“Life has been turned upside down. No words can describe the pain we are going through. Please keep the collins clan in your prayers,” Susie Collins, a family member, said in a Friday post on Facebook.
Authorities said the 46-year-old inmate, who was serving a life sentence for a 2006 murder and attempted murder, went missing on May 12 after he managed to break out of his shackles while on a prison bus, stab a corrections officer, and flee on foot into a cow pasture. Cellphone video obtained by KAGS-TV showed the moment Lopez crashed the transfer bus—which was supposed to take him to a medical appointment with over a dozen other inmates—and fled into the woods.
“He’s got a life sentence for a capital murder, where he killed a man with a pickaxe, and he’s also gotten an attempted capital murder conviction for shooting a gun at a police officer,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Robert Hurst said after Lopez went missing, noting that the inmate allegedly affiliated with the Mexican Mafia was “very dangerous.”
For weeks, authorities unsuccessfully scoured the Leon County area for Lopez, who was also added to Texas’ Most Wanted list with a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
But on Thursday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said they had a break in the case when authorities found the four children and their grandfather inside the cabin alongside Highway 7 after receiving a call for a welfare check. A white 1999 Chevy Silverado was also missing from the home, which authorities believe Lopez used to flee the scene after killing the family, who had arrived at the house just hours prior.
Hours later, Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies spotted the same truck in Jourdanton, prompting them to lay road spikes to deflate the truck’s tires and cause Lopez to crash into a tree. Refusing to surrender, Lopez then pointed a gun out the window and started firing, authorities said. Deputies returned fire and “swiftly shot and killed Lopez,” Clark said on Thursday.
While Lopez fired “several rounds,” no officers were injured in the incident.
“The agency is conducting a serious incident review surrounding the circumstances of the escape,” Clark added to The Daily Beast. “We will make any changes to prevent an escape like this from happening again.”
The Tomball Independent School District acknowledged the loss in a Friday letter to parents obtained by The Daily Beast, stating that “the loss of a student, for any reason, is heartbreaking, but to lose four in such a tragic way is excruciating, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of these beloved students and grandfather.”
The president of Tomball Little League, Brian Quinn, confirmed to The Daily Beast that Waylon, the eldest child, was an umpire for their youth sports teams. “Our baseball community is heartbroken to lose a colleague and friend,” he said.
Kristen Crook, a local who knows the Collins family, said she had spoken to a family member, who understandably was at “a loss and completely devastated and still in shock.”
“Susie and Matthew [Collins] got married at my aunt’s house,” Crook,
who also started a GoFundMe on behalf of the family, told The Daily Beast. “This is a very tight knit community and everyone knows everyone.”
