Don't believe this has been diaried yet, which is a little surprising since the incident appears to have occurred on Saturday. The Times Record News of Wichita Falls, Texas reported on Wednesday that Larry Don Wheeler, cousin of Governor Rick Perry, died "in a burst of gunfire" Saturday night.
UPDATE: Found a link with Governor Perry's statement:
Perry said Thursday that the death was tragic but stressed he hardly knew his cousin, 74-year-old Larry Don Wheeler, even though he was listed as a member of Perry's 2006 re-election steering committee.
"I'm not sure I would pick him out of a lineup," the governor said of Wheeler, who he said was a distant cousin on his grandmother's side.
Information is limited, but what is known is that Wheeler, 74, was pronounced dead "following an exchange of gunfire with deputies who arrived to investigate a call about a gunshot in the area."
"Around 8:40 p.m. was when the call came in," Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham said.
Chief Deputy J.T. Mitchell and Deputy Curtis Hamlin were called to the scene, and arrived at 136 Country Club Drive within a few minutes.
From early reports and witness accounts of what happened, McGaughey said he understood the man fired a weapon, and that "the officers responded to that." He acknowledged that was preliminary information, and it wasn’t yet clear what the reports would show.
Deputy Hamlin was apparently wounded in the hand in what was described as an "exchange of gunfire". Mr. Wheeler is survived by a wife, son and daughter.
I don't want to read too much into it, but there was something strange in the article:
"The family is in shock," said attorney David Gossom, who is representing Wheeler’s family. Gossom has traveled to the house on Country Club Drive in Nocona Hills, and he said they are all waiting to see if there is a reasonable explanation for what happened there Saturday night. "We’re not coming up with one." He talked about the bullet holes that now mark the porch. They were at a downward angle, which to him indicated someone following a target to the ground and continuing to shoot, or someone shooting while nerves and stress were affecting them.
Did you catch that? I don't know about you, but it seems wildly speculative to imply at this early date that the deputy was shooting "while nerves and stress were affecting them."
NOTE: There is very little known about the incident, so please avoid wild speculation and associations to the governor's anti-Fed and pro-gun stances.
For now, condolences to Mr. Wheeler's family.