LUBBOCK, Texas – As the Capital Murder Jury Trial for Hollis Daniels III continued Tuesday, we heard in detail more about the last moments leading up to the deadly shooting of Texas Tech Police Department (TTPD) Officer Floyd East Jr.

Three more of Daniels’ former friends, who were hanging out with him the night before the shooting, testified on Tuesday. The hangout was at Leo John’s house, and he said it was later that night when he noticed his 45-caliber pistol was missing. Shortly after, the group would report it to the police, and eventually, Lubbock Police Department Officer Clint Duckworth would pull Daniels over. The body camera footage shows Daniels denying stealing the gun, and refusing to let police search his car, so Officer Duckworth eventually lets Daniels go home.

It was around 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 9, 2017, when former suitemates George Vaughan and Andreas Olivo said they heard a gunshot come from Daniels’ room at Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus.

Around 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, Olivo remembered seeing Daniels in their dorm room. Olivo asked him what the loud sound was overnight. Daniels told him he dropped a book, but moments after, Daniels would bring Olivo into his room. That’s where Olivo said he saw a magazine pistol and a bullet hole. Olivo remembered thinking, “that’s where my legs were on the other side,” after seeing the bullet hole on the shared wall.

A few hours later, Vaughan and Olivo decided to report the gunshot and bullet hole to TTPD Officers Tyler Snelson and East. They told the officers they were concerned for their safety.

After that discussion, both TTPD officers went to their suite to do a welfare check on Daniels. In court Tuesday, prosecutors showed Officer Snelson’s body camera video from that check. When they arrived, Daniels wasn’t there.

Eventually, Daniels showed up while the officers were still there. On video, you hear him tell them his name is Andreas, which officers quickly knew wasn’t true since they had just spoken with Andreas (Daniels’ suitemate) right before.  

The officers did a full pat down of Daniels. He denied firing the gun that his suitemates told police about. They didn’t find the 45-caliber pistol that was reported stolen the night before from John’s house, but they would find a CO2 gun, unprescribed drugs like Xanax and other paraphernalia in plain sight. 

Officer Snelson testified Tuesday that Daniels was calm and polite during the search, but lied to him multiple times.

Less than two hours later, police said Daniels would shoot and kill Officer East.

On Monday’s first day of Daniels’ Capital Murder Trial, Daniels pleaded guilty to the murder of Officer East.

“I plead guilty because I am responsible,” Daniels said on Monday.

There’s still more to Officer Snelson’s body camera video that wasn’t shown before they recessed for the day on Tuesday just before 5:00 p.m. The trial will pick back up with Officer Snelson’s testimony starting at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday.