Tyler Civic Theatre Remembers Road Rage Victim

TYLER — The Tyler Civic Theatre will carry on in spite of the loss of a cast member. On Friday, Ryan Mullee, 39, Lindale, was killed in a road rage shooting while driving home from work on I-20 in Van Zandt County. According to KETK, just 10 days from their first performance of Charlotte’s Web, the company is busy rehearsing without Mullee.

“The show deals with friendship, love, loss, sacrifice and death, it’s all there,” said Charlotte’s Web director Justin Purser. “It takes on a whole new meaning for us and for the cast because it’s so real to us and so close to us now.”

On March 4, they will take the stage with a huge part of their performance missing. Ryan Mullee was going to make his big debut.

“It was interesting working with him because he had this energy about him that no matter who he was talking to, no matter what he was doing, he brightened up the room,” said cast member Nick Buntin.

Though Buntin says the theatre has been a bit darker without Mullee around, his big personality reflects through his 10-year-old daughter, Delaney. Cast members say her dad was the same outgoing person as she.

Officials says the people responsible for Mullee’s death were in a gray sedan. The Van Zandt County District Attorney’s Office is offering a reward for any information leading to an arrest. Any information can be forwarded to the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office, 903-567-4133.