Richard Starry is the suspect accused of murdering four people in Robstown, Texas, some of them at a local nursing home, according to a press conference from police. One of the victims was his father, Ernest Starry, police said.
The shootings unfolded at two different locations but were believed to be related. By the end of the evening, five people lay dead in the nation’s latest mass shooting incident, which unfolded on the evening of July 28, 2018, a Friday. One of those was the shooter.
“Never in a million years would I have imagined what would ensue on a typical Friday. Couldn’t have guessed my family would experience a tragedy of this magnitude ??,” wrote one woman on Facebook.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Police Found Bodies at a Nursing Home First
Around 7 p.m., Robstown police received a call of an active shooter at a nursing home, City Secretary Herman Rodriguez said in a news conference.
“On Friday at 6:48 p.m., officers responded to an active shooter” at the nursing home, the police chief said in a subsequent news conference.
“An 85-year-old resident identified as Ernest Starry was found dead along with another victim, his wife, identified as Thelma Montalvo,” police said. “The incident was isolated to a room in which Mr. Starry was sitting in. Also in the room as officers entered to neutralize the situation, the shooter was confirmed to be a 60-year-old son of the elderly man… identified as Richard Starry.” A gun was located inside the room near the suspected shooter, Richard Starry, according to police.
The nursing home was the Retama Manor nursing home in the 600 block of East Avenue in Robstown, a city of just under 12,000 people located in Nueces County, Texas.
City Secretary Herman Rodriguez gives an update on the fatal shooting that left five dead. @callerdotcom
“Our hearts go out to the victims’ families and the residents, visitors and employees at Retama Manor who experienced this tragedy,” Robstown Police Chief Erasmo Flores said in a news release, adding that the Texas Rangers are assisting.
A Facebook page for Richard Starry says he was “self-employed” and went to Robstown High School. There is nothing else publicly visible on it.
2. Police Also Found Bodies at a Starry Robstown Home
Two men were found dead inside a home on the 4200 block of West Highway 44 in Robstown.
Police then received a phone call from family members to go to the victims’ home, where they found two more bodies upon arrival. Police said the second location was the home of the victims who were killed in the nursing home.
A 13-year-old boy and the 40-year-old son of the female victim were also found dead, police said. “The two who were killed at that home were the first victims of this shooting,” said police. The names of those two victims were withheld.
“It was chaotic,” police said of the situation.
3. Police Have Not Identified a Motive
Multiple Robstown police patrol cars and ambulances respond to a home on the 4200 block of West HWY 44
It’s still a mystery why the people were shot, at least publicly, as authorities have not yet identified a motive.
“Anything that we would state at this point at such a early time in this tragedy would be speculation and we definitely don’t want to speculate,” Rodriguez told KIII-TV. “This is a profound incident that doesn’t really transpire here too often in Robstown. We’ve got to keep the empathy of the family; this is a small town here in Robstown.”
Retama is a non-profit nursing home with 94 beds, according to KIII.
4. Richard Starry Is Among the Dead
Medics are making their way down the E. Avenue J in Robstown. Reports are they are headed to a pawn shop. @callerdotcom
The mass shooting appears to be a murder suicide, as the body of the shooter was found among the dead, authorities said.
The exact relationship between all of the victims and Richard Starry was not yet clear. However, an old wedding announcement for Richard Starry’s daughter says that Richard Starry was the son of Ernest Starry, and police confirmed the father-and-son relationship. They also said the woman killed with Richard Starry’s stepmother.
5. The Nursing Home Was on Lockdown
Two men and a woman are dead after a shooting at the Retama Manor Nursing Home in Robstown, city officials said in a news release. @callerdotcom
The nursing home was locked down, and news that a shooting had occurred in a nursing home, of all places, frightened people in the town.
“You never think it’s going to happen to your family, said Doris Salazar, whose mother lives at the nursing home, to USA Today. “You think they’re safe.”
This post is being updated as more information is learned about Richard Starry and the victims.