A man charged with murder in connection with a shooting in Lewisville last week told investigators that he was obsessed with his female co-worker and angry over what he considered to be her excessively long work breaks.
Travis Merrill, 51, was being held Monday at the Denton County jail on a $10 million bond for allegedly shooting and killing Tamhara Collazo last Thursday while she sat at her desk at Allegiance Trucks, located in a strip shopping plaza that shares space with the interim offices of the Lewisville Police Department.
Merrill confessed to the shooting, telling police that Collazo “had caused him pain, and he wanted her to feel pain,” which led him to deliberately plan to shoot her at work in front of their co-workers, according to the affidavit.
A spokesperson for Lewisville police reported receiving a 911 call about an active shooter around 11:30 a.m. at the Allegiance office in the 1800 block of Lakeway Drive.
Officers responded and apprehended the suspect inside the building.
Responding officers gave Collazo two tourniquets and began CPR in an effort to save her life. According to the affidavit, Collazo suffered from two gunshot wounds to her right arm, two to her chest and one to her leg.
Collazo was rushed to a hospital where she later died from her injuries.
According to the affidavit, Merril told the police in an interview that “he was obsessed with Collazo and began getting ever increasingly angry by her taking what he considered to be unauthorized long breaks during work hours, as well as not paying any attention to him.”
Collazo eventually reported Merrill’s behavior to company managers after several months of him watching her during her breaks, even though she had asked him to stop, police investigators said. As a result, he was required to see a counselor before being allowed to return to work, according to the affidavit.
When he returned to work, she started to avoid him, which fueled his anger, police investigators said in the affidavit.
The suspect told investigators that he began buying guns and started practicing his movements at home.
Merrill told the police that he had brought the guns to work several times but held back from using them because it “didn’t feel like the right time.”
On Thursday, Merrill admitted following Collazo into the parking lot during her lunch break. After watching her sit in her car as usual, Merrill told investigators that he retrieved his guns from his own vehicle.
“As she came back to her cubicle after lunch, he followed her inside and “ambushed’ her, firing the gun multiple times,” the affidavit states.
Merrill provided detectives with specific dates for when Collazo took breaks and detailed how long each one lasted, according to the affidavit.
Police discovered two firearms near Collazo’s cubicle: a Smith and Wesson 686-6 .357 revolver and a Taurus Protector Poly.
