Police responded to reports of gunfire in the capital city’s downtown area around 2 a.m. on Nov. 28.
An estimated 100 shots were fired in about 10 minutes, hitting buildings including the Mexican consulate, police headquarters and the federal court building. No pedestrians, motorists or building occupants were reported injured in the incident.
An armed suspect identified as Larry Steven McQuilliams, 49, of Austin, was shot and killed when he was confronted by an Austin police officer near police headquarters. Bomb squad officers searched McQuilliams’ parked vehicle and found small propane tanks of a kind the suspect may have used in a failed attempt to set the consulate building afire.
Noted public servant dies
Former state Sen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, died Nov. 20 at his home in Austin.
Farabee, 81, served as a member of the Texas Senate from 1975 to 1988. He resigned from office in 1988 to accept a position as general counsel for the University of Texas System. His son David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, served as a state representative from 1999 to 2011.
A Dec. 5 memorial is scheduled in the state Capitol Senate Chamber burial will be in the Texas State Cemetery on Dec. 6.
Perry extends proclamation
Gov. Rick Perry on Nov. 24 announced the renewal of the emergency disaster proclamation he originally signed in July 2011, certifying that exceptional drought conditions posed a threat of imminent disaster in specified counties in Texas.
This month, the proclamation applies to 92 of the state’s 254 counties. In contrast, the proclamation applied to 98 specified counties in the month of October. The drought proclamation directs that “all necessary measures, both public and private” as authorized by state law “be implemented to meet that threat” and “all rules and regulations that may inhibit or prevent prompt response to this threat are suspended for the duration of the state of disaster.”
Ed Sterling works for the Texas Press Association and follows the Legislature for the organization.
