Bond for 32-year-old Rene Torres Pinon of Stephenville was set Monday morning at $250,000 on the charge of murder. He is accused of shooting local business owner Eddie Lopez at Early Donuts on Monday morning after police say words were exchanged between the two in the parking lot.
Early Police Chief David Mercer said by email that Pinon told police that he stopped at the donut shop to get his kids some donuts. According to Mercer, as the suspect was leaving, he saw Lopez in his vehicle and the victim said something to the suspect that made him mad.
“He (Pinon) put his donuts in the car, took his gun from his glove box and put it in his belt,” Mercer said. “(He) walked over to Eddie, and Eddie was still talking to him and said something about his fiancé.”
Mercer said that Pinon told police that he fired his weapon, reported to be a .40 caliber handgun, until he ran out of bullets. Mercer said that Pinon will not tell police what the victim said to him to make him lose his temper.
Pinon told police that he went to the parking lot of the Kohler plant in Brownwood after the shooting and sat in his vehicle for a while then called his mother and told her what happened. Mercer said that information was then relayed to the Law Enforcement Center.
According to Mercer, law enforcement officers were dispatched to Kohler and surrounded it, but the suspect apparently left the area before officers arrived. Mercer said that Pinon then drove to the Law Enforcement Center in Brownwood and turned himself in around 10:50am, about an hour after the shooting.
“While we heard he was just sitting in the car at Kohler, I was really afraid it was going to have a bad ending, either a suicide or he was going to make an officer shoot him,” Mercer said.
Mercer said that he appreciated the help and cooperation from all of the area law enforcement agencies who helped during the incident and initial investigation.
