Ex-Utahn tied to Texas killings

Texas police say an ex-Utah Highway Patrol trooper was behind at least one of the two deadly highway shootings in the Dallas area.

Brian G. Smith is hospitalized on life support after shooting himself during a Monday night standoff in Garland, Texas. Police there said Smith, 37, shot himself as officers, responding to a report of a suicidal man, approached his car.

Dallas police said Tuesday that they had made a preliminary link between Smith and some of the highway shootings.

Late Tuesday, investigators had linked Smith to a killing in Dallas by matching the bullets found at the standoff, he said.

"We feel safe in saying (Smith) ... was the shooter," Dallas Police Lt. Craig Miller said.

Dallas police declined to comment on a second death in neighboring Garland, where the standoff took place, because it was out of their jurisdiction.

More tests will be conducted Wednesday on the gun taken from Smith's SUV. Garland police said they were still investigating whether Smith was involved in a fatal highway shooting there. Smith, 37, was also wanted in an Oxycontin robbery earlier in the evening, said Garland police officer Joe Harn.

"We had a robbery of a pharmacy at a Kroger grocery store of Oxycontin and he is a suspect in that," he said Tuesday.

In the shootings on Dallas-area highways, two men were killed. Jorge Lopez, 20, was killed when a driver in a pickup pulled alongside Lopez's Nissan at a red light and fired. Shots were then fired at an 18-wheeler on Interstate 635, but the driver of that vehicle was not hurt.

Minutes later, 42-year-old William Scott Miller, driving a United Van Lines semi, was shot and killed. Another driver was shot at a few minutes later and wounded.

"We have a lot of concern and a lot of people are scared here in Dallas because of the shootings," Miller said. "We felt we brought some closure in this."

Officers responded Monday night to a call from Keller, Texas, police about a despondent and suicidal man with a gun, wanted on burglary and robbery warrants. About 9 p.m., a Garland police officer spotted Smith's car facing the wrong way on a street. Repeated attempts to communicate with Smith got no response, Harn said.