Two ETBU Football Players Jailed after Gunfire near Officers Residence

WASKOM — Two East Texas Baptist University football players were taken into custody earlier this week, accused of firing a rifle in front of a Waskom police officer’s home. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report Kailob Wallace of Quinlan and Brooks Holder of Beeville were booked into the Harrison County Jail on Monday night on charges of deadly conduct, discharging a firearm — a third-degree felony. A Waskom police officer who filed the probable cause affidavit alleged the pair fired three shots from a .22 caliber rifle toward his home while driving Sunday night.

According to the affidavit filed with the Harrison County District Attorney’s Office, Waskom Police Sgt. Forrest Mitchell was off-duty about 9 p.m. when he heard the shots in front of his home. “My daughter said she saw a white car and a red SUV drive by,” Mitchell wrote in the affidavit. Mitchell reported he called for backup. Another Waskom police officer pulled over a white Ford Mustang about 20 minutes after the shooting, the affidavit said, and police discovered three spent .22 caliber rounds inside. At that time, Holder stated he fired the gun in front of the house where Mitchell’s daughter was in the front yard, the affidavit said.

Wallace and Holder are both listed as freshman quarterbacks on the ETBU football roster. ETBU spokesman Mike Midkiff said Thursday the university “is aware of the situation and will cooperate if necessary.” He declined comment on the students’ status on the team or their continued enrollment. Both were released from the Harrison County Jail after they each posted $25,000 bond.