Brown County Sheriff’s Office investigated an early morning shooting in Brown County which left two people with nonlife-threatening injuries.
According to BCSO Sergeant of CID James Stroope, deputies received the call from the Brownwood Regional Medical Center regarding the victims around 2:43 a.m. and the incident is believed to have occurred around 2:15 a.m.
Stroope reported that the suspect, identified as 32-year-old Michael Ryan Ellis and female victim had been having marital problems and that she had been staying at a residence on Hwy 183 S near County Road 270 north of Zephyr with the male victim, who was a longtime friend of the couple.
“Michael went to the male victim’s residence and threw a cinder block through the bedroom window. He said he heard two people screaming and shot three rounds from a shotgun into the bedroom,” stated Stroope. “Micheal then went to the front door and tried to kick it in, but the male victim had blocked it with a couch and he (Ellis) fired two more rounds.”
The female victim got the male victim into a vehicle and drove him to Brownwood Regional Medical Center, where they both received treatment according to Stroope. Both victims are reported to have nonlife-threatening injuries. The female was later released from the hospital and the male victim remains hospitalized, said Stroope.
At least four of the shots fired were bird shot, according to Stroope who explained that the room where the first shots were fired was very small in size and that had the ammunition not been bird shot, the incident could very well have been fatal.
Michael Ryan Ellis was arrested Friday morning, charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon Family Violence (1st degree felony), Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (2nd degree felony), two counts of Tampering with Evidence (3rd degree felony), and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by Felon.
