A suspect accused of killing a Fort Hood soldier and two others in March was arrested Friday, according to Killeen, Texas, police officers.
Spc. Freddy Delacruz Jr., 23, as well as Asia Cline, 22, and Shaquan Allred, 23, were found dead after reports of gunshots drew Killeen police to an apartment complex about 6 miles east of Fort Hood at roughly 1:40 a.m. on March 14.
Killeen police ultimately identified Barnard L. Morrow, 21, as a suspect in the case on Aug. 20 through an investigation, the details of which were not immediately provided.
Morrow was charged with capital murder of multiple persons and a warrant was issued for his arrest with a suggested bond amount of $2 million. Army Times filed a records request Saturday for the arrest affidavit that would detail the investigation.
Before he could be arrested in mid-August, Morrow “fled” the city of Killeen, police said Friday, and assistance was requested from U.S. Marshals to locate him.
Morrow was ultimately found in Newton, Mississippi. He was arrested Friday at 6 a.m. without incident and was transported to the local Lauderdale County Jail while awaiting extradition back to Bell County in Texas.
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“The department wishes to express its condolences to the family and friends of the victims of this tragedy,” Killeen Police Chief Charles Kimble said in a statement. “I wish to thank our officers and detectives for their dedicated service in reaching a conclusion in this investigation.”
Delacruz is one of eight soldiers who have died on or near Fort Hood this year. Five of those deaths have been publicly linked to foul play.
The high numbers of violent crime incidents on the central Texas installation and in the surrounding community have drawn the attention of the public and Army senior leaders.
An independent command climate review is now ongoing at Fort Hood, which is home to roughly 45,000 soldiers.
Army senior leadership requested that the independent review, led by five civilian experts, provide an interim program report by mid-September and a final report by Oct. 30.
In a visit to the base earlier in August, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters the review, among other things, will attempt to identify causes of high crime rates in the area.
“The numbers are high here,” McCarthy said during his two-day visit to Fort Hood in early August. “They are the highest, in most cases, for sexual assault and harassment and murders for our entire formation — the U.S. Army.”
Delacruz’s home of record is Vidalia, Georgia, according to a Fort Hood statement. He entered the Army in November 2017 as a cavalry scout and was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, since April 2018.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
