The brother of the East Texas man who shot and killed a Texas state trooper during a traffic stop last week, then killed himself as police closed in on him, said today the entire tragedy could have been avoided had his brother spent more time in jail for drug crimes.
Derrick Robertson doesn't blame the criminal justice system for what his brother did, but does believe changes need to be made when it comes to incarceration and treatment of people with drug problems.
"At one time, he was a good man," Robertson, of Longview, said of his brother, Brandon, who once was a law enforcement officer in East Texas.
Brandon Robertson, 37, shot and killed Trooper Scott Burns in Marion County last week. Burns was still sitting in his patrol car when he died. Authorities have not said if they know why Robertson got out of the car and opened fire with a shotgun.
Robertson killed himself two days later after police cornered him outside an old barn in neighboring Cass County.
"After he got out of law enforcement, he opened up his own business and was doing real good," Derrick Robertson said of his brother. "And that's when he got into this terrible drug called meth. It took its toll slowly. I watched him lose everything he had."Derrick Robertson said his family tried to help his brother with his drug addiction.
"He went to the penitentiary (and) was sentenced to four years -- didn't do but six months," he said. "The family knew that six months wasn't long enough."
As the family feared, Brandon Robertson got back on drugs when he got out of prison.
After hearing about the trooper's murder, Derrick Robertson said he tried in vain to get his brother to surrender -- but he refused, saying he wasn't going back to jail.
"Myself and (Gregg County) Sheriff Maxey Cerliano met here. We tried; we were texting him, talking to him over the cell phone, trying to get him to turn himself in," Robertson said.
Derrick Robertson expressed his sympathy for the Burns family.
"I think about them from the time I get up to the time I go to sleep," he said.
Derrick Robertson said he would like to see the state Legislature toughen sentences for drug crimes, especially for repeat offenders.
Two weeks before the shooting of the trooper, Brandon Robertson was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm in Cherokee County, Texas south of Tyler. Derrick said his brother spent one day in jail before making bond.
