A former Kaufman County, Texas justice of the peace told an NBC News affiliate that he was questioned by law enforcement agents on Saturday, just hours after the bodies of the county District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found in their home in Forney, Texas.
“If I was in their shoes, I would want to talk to me,” Eric Williams told KXAS in an on-camera interview this week at his home. “In the investigators’ minds, they want to check with me to do their process of elimination.”
Williams lost his position after being convicted in a theft case. According to The New York Times, Williams was “sentenced last April to two years’ probation and fined $2,500 for stealing computer monitors from a county office in 2011.” Both McLelland and Mark Hasse, a county prosecutor killed Jan. 31, were reportedly involved in Williams’ case.
Williams said he met law enforcement agents at a restaurant Saturday night and allowed them to swab his hands for gunpowder residue. Williams also turned over his and his wife’s cellphones, which have since been returned. He told KXAS he is not bitter over his case and would not harm anyone.
“I’ve cooperated with law enforcement,” Williams said. “I certainly wish them the best in bringing justice to this incredibly egregious act.”
Williams acknowledged that investigators who searched his home during the theft case found guns, but he said he no longer owns weapons.
“I got rid of everything,” he said.
But Williams’ lawyer, David Sergi, who has spoken with several media outlets, told The Los Angeles Times his client does own firearms.
“Sergi confirmed that his client had guns and military supplies — deemed survivalist equipment by sources — but that this was to be expected of a former Army reservist who had been a weapons instructor,” the Times reported.
Sergi also criticized media outlets that have named his client. (Neither The New York Times or The Los Angeles Times named Williams.)
“We’re obviously upset that his name has been mentioned, because he maintains he has nothing to do with it,” Sergi told the Times. “We fear for his safety now.”
Officials investigating the killings of the two prosecutors have also been interviewing members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas prison gang, but not material evidence has been found linking the gang to the murders.
Watch KXAS’s report on their interview with Williams:
View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.
