Former Tyler Footballer Held in Fatal Dallas-Area Shootings

DeSOTO (AP/Staff) – A mother and her teenage daughter are among four people fatally shot at two Dallas-area homes in a domestic dispute that left four other youths wounded — and a former Tyler athlete is suspected. Dallas and DeSoto police on Thursday said charges are pending against Erbie Bowser, who was apprehended at the second crime scene in DeSoto. According to KETK, CNN, and Dallas TV station WFAA, Bowser is a 1987 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler — where he was an all-state football selection in 1986. Officials have confirmed that Bowser is a former Army staff sergeant who more recently worked as a special education teacher and supplemented his time as a hip-hop dancer for the Dallas Mavericks.

DeSoto police Cpl. Melissa Franks says investigators are trying to determine how Bowser knew the victims. No motive was immediately announced. Investigators say a mother and her 17-year-old daughter were slain at a Dallas home where a 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old family friend were also wounded. A relative discovered the bodies. Two women were later killed at a DeSoto house where officers – who were tipped by Dallas police – found the victims. Boys ages 11 and 13 were wounded.