Staff writer Michael E. Young reports:
SUNNYVALE ? Thousands of friends and family members celebrated the love story of Mike and Cynthia McLelland on Thursday afternoon, a love that made them inseparable in life, death and now in eternity.
The McLellands were slain early Saturday in their home near Forney, a crime that has yielded few clues so far for investigators. Mike McLelland was Kaufman County?s district attorney. Two months ago, one of his top prosecutors, Mark Hasse, was gunned down in a parking lot while walking toward his office. That case is also unsolved.
Security was tight around the First Baptist Church of Sunnyvale, which hosted the McLellands? memorial service. Snipers were stationed on the church roof. Bomb-sniffing dogs prowled the parking lot. And lines of police cars, lights flashing, lined both sides of Belt Line Road.
Inside, though, was a celebration of the lives and love of two people regularly described as a mismatched pair who fit together perfectly.
Gov. Rick Perry was among those who spoke at the memorial. He assured their children, grandchildren and their mothers that the community embraced them, ?not just Kaufman County, but the millions of people across the state who stand with you.?
And he praised the McLellands for ?fighting back against the criminal elements in this country.?
?People don?t take the job of district attorney for financial gain, or fame,? Perry said. ?It?s a job that means longer days and longer nights,? he said. ?People who choose this line of work do it to make a difference for their community.
?It?s an art form, it?s a calling, and one of the more difficult ones, I imagine,? the governor said.
Update at 3:19 p.m.: The memorial has ended. We?ll have a recap shortly, but until then here?s a look back at this morning?s press conference.
Update at 12:51 p.m.: Above, courtesy KXAS-Channel 5, is the live stream of the memorial service for slain Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia. Gov. Rick Perry is among those expected to speak.
Gov. Rick Perry was joined by local, state and federal law enforcement officials at a morning press conference preceding Mike and Cynthia McLelland's memorial service this afternoon. (Michael Ainsworth/Staff photographer)
Update at 11:50 a.m.: At a just-wrapped press conference from the Kaufman County Courthouse, Gov. Rick Perry called the slaying of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and assistant district attorney Mark Hasse ?heinous crimes that have affected not just Texans but people across the country.? And he announced that his office is offering a cash reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the capture and indictment of the suspect or suspects responsible for the murders. That brings the total reward up to $200,000.
Perry called the assassinations ?direct attacks on the core of our civil society, the rule of law.? But, he said, ?The fact is we cannot react with fear. We gotta react with resolve.?
And he directly addressed those responsible for the shootings: ?We?re going to hunt you down and punish you and remove that type of threat from the state of Texas.?
The governor did, however, back off yesterday?s comments to FOX News, in which he appeared to suggest Mexican drug cartels and a porous border might be to blame for the killings.
?You?re taking a little bit of liberty with what I said,? Perry told a reporter who asked him to clarify Wednesday?s comments. ?It?s very premature to be making any statements about who may or may not have been involved with this. There was a report by the Department of Public Safety that said the greatest threat to the public safety was the cartels. Obviously that?s part of this investigation, but to read into statements about who may or may not have been involved is a bit premature.?
Law enforcement officials once again asked the public for tips, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Perry asked the public to call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-847-7522.
Interim Kaufman County DA Brandi Fernandez spoke at the end of the press conference, and said that despite the killings, ?every prosecutor in this office is stepping up to the plate? to uphold their oath to serve the community.
?We?re unnerved,? she said, but unwavering. ?I?m still going to show up, and they?re still gonna show up with me,? she said of her staff.
?Mike was the leader of our office,? she said when asked to reflect on McLelland. ?He was always full of fun. He was always full of life. He and Cynthia were the mom and dad of the office. I still expect him to walk in with a plate of cookies she baked for us.?
Her comments echoed those of Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood, who spoke after Perry and said these ?are trying times? for a county not used to such violence.
?We?re a small county,? he said. ?We?re a close-knit county, and these folks are our courthouse family. We loved them dearly and the work they did and the passion for the job they were assigned to do.?
?We are doing everything we can obviously to bring this to a positive conclusion,? said Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes. ?I would certainly like to reassure the citizen of Kaufman County we?re doing everything we can to ensure their safety.?
Perry was asked whether the three killings has done anything to ?embolden? others who might wish to harm law enforcement officials across the state. Perry said no, but that officials should always ?be very cognitive of their surroundings and personal safety.? He also refused to discuss how other prosecutors and elected officials across the state were being protected, lest he offer ?the bad guys? any information ?they can use to penetrate the security veil around these individuals.?
The governor did say, though, that law enforcement officials engaged in this investigation haven?t ruled out anything ? including the Aryan Brotherhood.
?We know we have a porous border,? he said. ?We know drug cartels, the gangs both transnational and otherwise, are operating together. All of that is open for interpretation and investigation. We will leave no stone unturned.?
Update at 11:09 a.m.: Houston FBI spokesperson Shauna Dunlap just gave the assembled media a rundown of this morning?s speakers, who will be, in order: Gov. Rick Perry, Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood, Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes and Special Agent in Charge of Dallas FBI Division Diego Rodriguez. Also present, she said, are the heads of myriad state, local, federal and private agencies investigation the murders of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia, as well as the January 31 killing of assistant district attorney Mark Hasse.
Among the agencies present: interim Kaufman County DA Brandi Fernandez; Kaufman Police Chief Chris Albaugh; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Texas Rangers; the Highway Patrol; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and the police chiefs from Forney and Terrell, among others.
Original item: At 11:15 this morning, Governor Rick Perry will hold a press conference at the Kaufman County Courthouse, where he will be joined by officials from Kaufman County, the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety will hold a press conference.
Perry, of course, has already offered some remarks about the murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia: On FOX News yesterday the governor appeared to blame the slayings on Mexican drug cartels and the Obama administration.
?We know the drug cartels are very, very active in our country now,? said the governor. ?It goes back ? to the whole issue of border security and the failure of the federal government to put the men and women, whether they are military or whether they?re Border Patrol or whether working with the local law enforcement, expend the dollars necessary to secure the border with Mexico.?
Perry will also speak at the McLellands? public memorial service, which will begin at 1 p.m. at the Sunnyvale First Baptist Church.
Thanks to NBC-Channel 5 we will stream both the press conference and the memorial service.
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