CLEVELAND, Texas — “With our deepest sympathy” is how a close community is grieving the loss of a secretary at B Dependable Plumbing.
That’s among the messages left on flowers at the front door.
She was the first of four shooting victims at the hands of 65 year-old Pavol Vido. Investigators said his spree was triggered Wednesday by a pending eviction from a messy encampment where he lived behind the business.
“Scary to know that it can happen right here in your little town,” said resident Darlene Assuncao Pate. “It really is.”
We’re told Vido also shot Liberty County Sheriff’s deputy Richard Whitten in the neck following a brief pursuit.
Vet clinic employee Lacy Sizemore watched the end of it as she pulled into the parking lot.
“You don’t pull up to work thinking, 'I’m going to see a shooting today,'” Sizemore said. “I really thought he was just getting a ticket.”
She realized that wasn’t the case when she saw Deputy Whitten lying on the ground near his unit.
“And I ran to the officer and thought he was dead,” Sizemore said. "So I stopped and turned back around to try and get video or a picture of the car.”
Vido’s car later turned up off a rural county road where he shot and killed himself after a search dog sniffed him out under a boat.
The potential danger to Sizemore still hadn’t fully sunken in when she spoke with us.
“To be honest, I really wasn’t thinking about my safety,” Sizemore said. “It didn’t hit me until later that he could have shot at me, ran me over, anything.”
We’ve heard the names of the victims at the plumbing company from multiple friends and other business owners. but DPS is still not confirming the identities.
Meanwhile, deputy Whitten was downgraded Thursday to critical but stable condition after the deputy suffered complications overnight. He remains in ICU at a hospital in Houston.
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