BEAUMONT, Texas, March 15 (UPI) -- A defendant in a sexual assault case who allegedly killed a woman at a Texas courthouse told his brother hours earlier his head was "messed up."
Bartholomew Granger, 41, was being held in lieu of $4 million bail Thursday, the Houston Chronicle reported. The victims of the shootout Wednesday in Beaumont include Minnie Ray Sebolt, 79, of Deweyville, Texas, who was killed and three who were wounded, one of them Granger's daughter, Samantha, 20.
Ulysses Granger said his brother left Houston before 7 a.m. Wednesday for the 80-mile drive to Beaumont, near the Louisiana border.
"He said, 'My head is so messed up I can't even think straight.' He said he was going to clear his head," Ulysses said. "He hugged me, kissed me on the cheek and left. He was stressed. This has been going on for 15 years."
Jefferson County District Judge John Stevens said Granger's trial on charges of sexually assaulting a child was in recess for lunch when the defendant apparently began shooting as prosecution witnesses went in for a meeting with the prosecutor.
Relatives said the sexual assault charge was part of a nasty custody fight between Granger and his ex-wife that began in 1999. Another brother, Lyndon Granger, was arrested on an outstanding felony charge at a family news conference Wednesday night.
