In a tragic incident, a 51-year-old woman was allegedly shot and killed by an obsessed male co-worker inside an office building in Lewisville, Texas last week because she was taking ‘long work breaks’.
The victim, identified as Tamhara Collazo, was rushed to a hospital by Lewisville Police, but she succumbed to her injuries.
The accused Travis Merrill (51) was arrested on Thursday after the police said he shot and killed Collazo at her desk inside Allegiance Trucks.
During an interrogation by the police, Merrill told them that "he was obsessed with Collazo and began getting ever increasingly angry by her taking what he considered to be unauthorized long breaks during work hours, as well as not paying any attention to him (sic)," said an arrest warrant affidavit.
After several months of this, Collazo had told Merrill to stop watching her on her breaks and also reported his behavior to human resource department. He was asked to consult a counselor before he was approved to return to work, the affidavit said.
Merrill also told the police that Collazo avoided him intentionally after he returned to work, which fueled his anger even more.
After that he started buying guns and practiced with them at home.
On several occasions, he also brought the guns to work but didn’t used them because he "didn’t feel like the right time".
On the day of killing, Merrill followed Collazo out into the parking lot while she took her lunch break. He watched her sit in her car like usual and then went to his vehicle to retrieve two revolvers.
"As she re-entered after lunch, he followed her inside to her cubicle and ‘ambushed’ her, firing the gun several times," the affidavit said.
The shooting was witnessed by two-dozen co-workers.
Later, Merrill turned himself into police once they arrived.
The accused now being held in the Denton County jail on a murder charge.
