On March 15, a double homicide happened at 2014 Whitebead Trail across Lake Austin from Steiner Ranch.
By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News
The suspect in last week’s double homicide near Four Points shot and killed himself Friday after a police chase in Mississippi, according to law enforcement authorities.
Randall Lee Burrows, 54 of Lakeway, was suspected of killing Richard Dale Guthrie and Susan Gulla-O’Leary on March 15 at 2014 Whitebead Trail in the community called Apache Shores across Lake Austin from Steiner Ranch.
At 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday, TCSO deputies responded to a report of shots fired. They arrived at the scene and found the bodies of Guthrie and Gulla-O’Leary, both 60-years-old and from Austin. Both had gunshot wounds.
Another woman was shot and hospitalized in critical condition.
Shortly after the shootings, TCSO named Burrows as the suspect, noting that he was last seen driving a 2011 white Ford Escape with Texas plate number FVX 4037.
At around 4:33 p.m. Friday, a tag reader registered Burrows’ license plate, according to KXAN sister station WJTV.
Reports indicate that the U.S. Marshal’s Service with the Mississippi Highway Patrol located Burrows in his white Ford Escape and pursued him. They ended up in Summit in Pike County, Mississippi and not far from the Louisiana border.
The Travis County Sheriff’s Office reported that he ran seven cars off the highway, drove into a field, had a very short standoff with the highway patrol, and then held a firearm to his head.
Deputies said that Burrows made some unspecified statements before shooting himself. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead just after 5 p.m. central time.
Captain Craig Smith with TCSO said he does not believe authorities fired any shots during the standoff.
KXAN asked if Burrows had any contact with his family after deputies say he killed Gulla-O’Leary and Guthrie. Smith said he doesn’t think there was any, because Burrows’ wife and two children were in contact with the department from the beginning.
Evidence shows that Burrows, a contractor, was in a business dispute with the victims.
“This dispute was over the job done or not done to the satisfaction — and the amount of money that was paid or not paid in reference to the work,” Captain Smith told KXAN.