Texas Briefly
DALLAS (AP) — A suspect has been arrested on murder warrants for twoslayings in Dallas, another slaying in nearby Celina and is a suspect in another fatal Dallas shooting, according to assistant Dallas Police Chief Avery Moore.
On Friday, Moore said Jeremy Rashaud Harris, 31, was arrested for the death of a man found in a burning home in Celina on the northern edge of Dallas.
Harris, who was arrested Wednesday, is now jailed in Collin County on murder warrants for the Celina slaying and the fatal Nov. 14 shootings in Dallas of a panhandler and a man sitting in his car at a stoplight, according to Moore.
Jail records show Harris is being held on $3 million bond and do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Harris is also a suspect in the Oct. 31 fatal shooting in Dallas of a 19-year-old college student who was awaiting a ride home from a party, said Moore.
The Dallas shootings are believed to have been committed by a lone gunman and were random, said deputy Police Chief Reuben Ramirez, who heads the department's criminal investigations division.
“I believe this is the definition of a serial killer," Ramirez said.
More than 8,000 in Texas hospitals for 1st time since summer
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas surpassed 8,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients Friday for the first time since a deadly summer surge as doctors amplified pleas to keep Thanksgiving gatherings small.
The worsening surge of cases has El Paso County — where the pandemic is blamed for more than 300 deaths since October — now searching for prospective morgue workers. County leaders are offering $27 an hour for work they describe as not only physically arduous but “emotionally taxing as well.”
The job posting comes as El Paso is already paying jail inmates to move bodies and has 10 refrigerated trucks as morgues began to overflow.
Texas reported more than 11,700 new cases Friday, the second-highest daily total of the pandemic. More than 8,100 virus patients are hospitalized, the most since early August.
The Texas Hospital Association, the industry group representing more than 500 hospitals, issued a new appeal for families to keep holiday gatherings “very small” as doctors and nurses struggle to keep up with rising caseloads.
”They are tired and emotionally drained. They are worried about their own families," the organization said in a statement.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ruled out another shutdown and accused local leaders of not enforcing restrictions already in place.
