KLTV 7 News Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville |Trooper Shooting Suspect Committed Suicide, Possible Accomplice Apprehended

Trooper Shooting Suspect Committed Suicide, Possible Accomplice Apprehended

We have just learned that the suspected wanted in the shooting death of 39 year old Trooper Scott Burns committed suicide in Cass County.

The Texas Department Of Public Safety in Austin says suspect Brandon Robertson was found dead of a self-inflicted gun wound off of CR 1347 near Morris Lake in Cass County. He was discovered around 5 p.m. Thursday.

An alleged accomplice, Jennifer Lynne Petrick, 36, was taken into custody at the scene. Criminal charges are pending against her. Petrick was Robertson's girlfriend. She will be booked into the Cass County Jail.

Authorities had tracked Robertson through information gained from calls he made to a local 911 center, as well as through investigative tactics and many calls to a tip line that had been set up to give a $30,000 reward. Robertson killed himself as authorities closed in on his location.

Trooper Scott Burns, was killed Tuesday night after pulling over a car at near the intersection of FM 729 and FM 1969 on the northeast side of Lake O' The Pines in East Texas.

Authorities say Burns didn't have a chance to remove his seatbelt as he stopped his patrol car, just before getting shot multiple times with a shotgun. A witness used the trooper's radio to call for help. Trooper Burns' car had four bullet holes in its windshield and one on the hood.

Brandon Wayne Robertson was an East Texas police officer for seven years at departments in Rusk County, Overton and Kilgore. He left law enforcement in 1999.

Robertson was arrested by Department of Public Safety troopers as recently as April 6, when he was charged in Cherokee County with possession of a controlled substance. He posted a $7,500 bond the next day.

Various local law enforcement agencies assisted DPS in the search for Robertson, including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bowie County Sheriff's Office, the Cass County Sheriff's Office, the Gregg County Sheriff's Office, the Smith County Sheriff's Office, the Longview Police Department, as well as the District Attorneys from Bowie, Cass, Marion and Smith counties.