Today is
Sunday June 14, 2026
LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department is investigating after a man was found dead from a gunshot wound. According to the KETK, on Saturday morning around 4:55, police responded to a welfare check call at 1507 Oden Street. Officers found the body of Lee Arthur Gray 47, of Logansport, Louisiana. Gray had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene. The resident, Lloyd Johnson Jr., 32, of Longview, went to a local hospital after receiving non-life threatening injuries from Gray. Investigators interviewed Johnson regarding the shooting death of Gray. and arrested him for unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He has not been charged with murder. This is the third homicide in the past seven days for the city of Longview.
EAST TEXAS — A Bullard man has been charged with robbing the Home Depot in Longview at gunpoint and authorities say he could be connected to a similar heist in Tyler. According to the Longview News-Journal and KETK, Santiago Galvan Jr., 19, of Bullard, was held Friday on $95,000 bond after Longview police said he displayed what turned out to be a fake handgun to a Home Depot employee Oct. 6 before leaving the store with a shopping cart full of tools. Authorities at the Cherokee County Jail confirmed that Galvan was arrested Oct. 12 by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and was charged with the Gregg County aggravated robbery as well as newer charges in Cherokee County of obstruction/retaliation and possession of marijuana. Read the rest of this entry »
LINDALE — An East Texas church staff member has been arrested for sexual assault. According to KETK, Clinton Brackett, 32, of Lindale, was arrested on a sexual assault warrant out of Runnels County, near Abilene. Brackett is listed on the First United Methodist Church in Lindale’s website as the Director of Student Ministries. Brackett has been booked into the Smith County Jail on $100,000 bond. Read the rest of this entry »
LONGVIEW — One man has been taken to the hospital and another detained by police after they said the person ran over the man on Henderson Street Thursday afternoon. According to the Longview News-Journal, police are investigating the incident as an aggravated assault family violence. Police were called around 1:30 to Henderson Street on a “jaws of life” call. That’s when they discovered a man had been run over by a car and was suffering life-threatening injuries. The person driving the car is said to be a relative of the victim. Police have detained the suspect, but no official arrest has been made.
LONGVIEW — Gregg County officials say Kilgore/Liberty City area resident Jessie Clifford Brown has been arrested in a murder dating to May 20, 2015. Authorities got a 911 call that night reporting a single vehicle crash in the Liberty City area. Responding officers found the vehicle in a creek. While rendering aid to occupants, officers discovered the driver, John Allen Franco, had suffered a gunshot wound. Franco died before he could get to a hospital. The 35-year-old Brown is held in the Gregg County jail on a $250,000 bond. The investigation is continuing.
PITTSBURG – Twelve persons were injured when a pickup hit the rear of a Pittsburg school bus. The bus had stopped to pick up students at the time of the accident. The accident happened around 7:00 Wednesday morning on Highway 271 south of Pittsburg. Nine students were taken either by ambulance or private vehicle to a Pittsburg hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The students ranged in age from 7 to 18.The pickup’s driver, 29 year-old Angelika Resendez, of Mt. Pleasant, was treated at relesed at the Pittsburg hospital. Two children in the pickup have been flown to a Dallas hospital. The accident remains under investigation.
KENNER, La. (AP/Staff) – The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the East Texas native who was unaccounted for after an explosion on an oil platform in Lake Pontchartrain near Kenner, Louisiana. Forty-four-year-old contractor Timothy Morrison of Katy, Texas, was still missing after the Sunday night explosion. According to KETK, Morrison spent his childhood in Athens. Seven other people were injured, three critically. Cmdr. Zac Ford said in a statement Monday night, “The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one. We send our thoughts and prayers to the Morrison family and all those affected by this incident.” The fire on the platform, which is owned by Clovelly Oil Co., was extinguished Monday morning.
LONGVIEW — A suspect believed to be connected to a weekend killing has been arrested. According to KETK, Cody Dewayne Fortman, 21, of Longview, was apprehended around 1:30 Monday afternoon. Investigators identified the suspect through the cooperation of a witness. Fortman has been charged with the murder of Nicholas Trevion Johnson, 22, of Longview. The victim was found early Sunday morning inside a home on Annette Drive with multiple gunshot wounds. The suspect was booked into the Gregg County Jail. His bond has been set at $175,000. Johnson’s death marked the sixth recorded homicide in Longview in 2017.
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused an appeal from a man sent to death row for torturing and drowning an East Texas woman in his bathtub and then stuffing her body into a barrel with cement mix and lime before dumping it in a ravine. The high court, without comment Monday, declined to review arguments that 50-year-old Troy Clark had deficient legal help at his Smith County trial in 2000. Clark was condemned for the May 1998 slaying of a former roommate, 20-year-old Christina Muse of Tyler. Evidence showed Muse was hit with a stun gun, beaten, bound and kept in a closet before she was drowned at Clark’s Tyler home. Records indicate Clark and a friend were using and selling methamphetamine and were worried she would snitch on them.
LONGVIEW — A Longview man remains jailed for double-murder. According to KETK, the court decided to delay the trial of Kyron Templeton. He’s accused of fatally stabbing two people inside Good Shepherd Medical Center Ambulatory Surgical Center in Longview. The 26-year-old has been in prison on a 2.5 million dollar bond since the murders in 2013.The trial was scheduled to start today but the district judge granted a delay due to questions over Templeton’s mental competency. His lawyers say he is not competent to stand trial. Another hearing has been scheduled for December 8. A nurse, Gail Sandidge, 57, and a hospital visitor, Harris Teel, 82, were killed in the attack. Three other people were seriously injured.
MARSHALL — A pedestrian died after being struck by a pickup truck late Saturday on U.S. 59 about 3 miles outside Marshall. According to the Longview News-Journal, Gilbert Eugene Kasler, 42, of Marshall was struck at 11 p.m. by a northbound pickup driven by Andrea Janise Chaddwick, 45, of Shelbyville. The Texas Department of Public Safety said Kasler was pronounced dead at the scene.
MARSHALL — Cabot Norit Americas Inc. announced Tuesday it is eliminating about 40 positions from its activated carbon plant in Marshall. According to KETK, the decision was driven by the need to better match the business’s production capacity. “Unfortunately, I’m letting about 40 positions go today,” General Manager Gavin Barrack said. “It’s a market driven issue. The volumes we expected to come through have not come through. To protect the 95 plus jobs that will remain onsite we have to take this action. Demand for powdered activated carbon following the implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulation has been lower than originally expected, resulting in overcapacity.
TYLER — The Tyler Professional Fire Fighters Association has announced that the City of Tyler Fire Department was awarded a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.) Subject to Tyler City Council approval on Oct. 11, the SAFER Grant will provide the city with $1.58 million in funding over a three-year period for the hiring of an additional 12 fire fighters. Acceptance of the grant would be another step towards maintaining the city’s current favorable ISO Rating (Insurance Services Office), which saves residents and businesses millions of dollars on insurance premiums. Read the rest of this entry »
LONGVIEW — A Longview woman has been charged after police said she ran over an officer’s leg while he was working security at the Longview Mall. According to KETK, Whitney Chevonne George, 30, was booked into the Gregg County Jail on $250,000 bond, charged with aggravated assault against a public servant in the Sept. 27 case. George told police she was parked in the fire lane at Dillard’s at the mall waiting for her cousin. Eventually, she said, she walked inside the store. When she and her cousin came out, they were confronted by a police officer in uniform. George said the officer asked her for identification and reached in and grabbed her car’s gear shift. Read the rest of this entry »
WINONA — Crash investigators have determined what led to a fatal crash in Winona. Two people died in the September 21 accident. According to KETK, the Department of Public Safety report stated the car involved was headed north on Highway 155 at an unsafe speed and the driver lost control of the vehicle while navigating a left curve. The car went into a side skid across both lanes, overturned and hit Uncle Mike’s Pizza Parlor. The car came to a stop upside down inside the building, where the vehicle caught on fire, along with the business. Both the driver and passenger died in the crash. They were later identified as Subhrajit Paul, 28, and Dhaval Bhatt, 34, of Frisco. The pizza parlor, which had only been open for six days, burned to the ground. he owners and their son living in an upstairs apartment were able to get out safely, however, five dogs died in the blaze.