Agitated Man Attempts to Take Gun from TGCSO Deputy

Over the weekend, local law enforcement conducted 58 arrests as stated previously. The Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office provided more details on the arrest of one of the arrestees, Randall Dean Bretz, 57.

As stated in our previous article, TGCSO deputies arrested Bretz for criminal trespass and attempting to take a weapon from an officer.

According to the TGCSO report, Deputies Criddle and A.J. Rios were dispatched to the 10000 of West Indian Creek Road in reference to a complaint of an unwanted subject.

A caller told Dispatch a male subject was banging on her door and claimed someone was attempting to kill him. The male subject entered the caller’s home, but she was able to push him out of the residence and close the door.

Dispatch told the deputies the male subject was still on the caller’s property, and possibly armed with a knife.

When the deputies arrived, Rios said he located the subject, identified as Bretz, walking towards the roadway. He had a cell phone in his left hand and a folding pocket knife in his right hand. He also had a folding pocket knife clipped to his right pant pocket.

“Bretz approached my vehicle, and I immediately gave him commands to drop the knife in his hand, as well as the knife clipped to his pant pocket,” said Deputy Rios. “Bretz complied with my commands.”

Rios said he then secured Bretz’s wrists behind his back with handcuffs. He also checked for additional weapons. During this process, Bretz told Rios he was trying to get away from another male subject who was trying to kill him. He identified the subject as “Cameron.” He noted that “Cameron” was still on scene and armed with a gun.

“Bretz was adamant the male subject was following him, and was going to shoot him,” said Rios. “I observed Bretz to be extremely agitated and flustered. Bretz’s pupils appeared to be fixed and would not dilate even as he looked directly into my patrol unit’s take down lights.”

Because of these indicators, Deputy Rios determined Bretz was possibly under the influence of methamphetamines. At that point, Deputy Criddle arrived on scene to assist with Bretz as Rios continued his investigation.

When Deputy Rios spoke to the victim and a witness, the victim advised she heard someone banging on the back door of her home. She opened the door to see who it was, and that’s when Bretz forced his way in. He took one step into her residence, but the victim was able to force him back outside. She then called her neighbor and for law enforcement assistance.

As she did so, Bretz continued to bang on her door and reiterated that someone was trying to kill him.

The witness told the deputies when he arrived at the scene, he observed Bretz banging on the victim’s window. He yelled at the man to get away. Bretz attempted to approach the witness several times, but the witness yelled at him to keep his distance. He noticed a knife in Bretz’s hand, but he said the man did not threaten anyone with the knife.

During the investigation, Bretz’s daughter arrived at the scene to check on her father. Her presence caused Bretz to become more agitated, and he asked his daughter “to help him, and keep ‘Cameron’ from trying to shoot him.” Deputies asked the daughter to keep her distance from the patrol vehicle so Bretz would calm down.

After gathering more information, Deputy Rios decided to arrest Bretz for Criminal Trespass, but as he attempted to secure the man in the back seat of his patrol unit, Bretz became increasingly agitated and repeated that “Cameron” was going to shoot him.

“Bretz continued to display bizarre behavior and became increasingly agitated,” explained Deputy Rios. “Due to Bretz’s behavior, I asked Bretz if he needed medical attention.”

Bretz said he did, so Dispatch called an ambulance to the scene.

When an ambulance arrived, they spoke with Bretz, who opted to be transported to Shannon Medical Center for evaluation. However, once Deputy Rios removed him from the back passenger seat of his patrol unit and escorted him towards the ambulance, Bretz attempted to lunge away from the officer.

“Bretz was unable to pull away,” said Deputy Rios. “I pulled Bretz towards me to gain control of him with two hands. As I gained control of [him], Bretz grasped my patrol issued pistol with both hands and attempted to remove my patrol pistol from my duty holster.”

Deputy Rios said Bretz pulled on his pistol several times and defeated one of the retention mechanisms on his duty holster. Rios managed, however, to take Bretz to the ground to gain control of him, and to keep him from further attempts of removing the deputy’s weapons.

Due to the violent actions committed by Bretz, Deputy Rios accompanied Medic 6 personnel to Shannon.

Bretz was evaluated, released, and transported to the Tom Green County Jail a few hours later where he was charged with Criminal Trespass of a Habitation and Attempting to Take Weapon from a Peace Officer.