Texas Officials Identify 36-Year-Old Seth Ator as Odessa Mass Shooter, Had Criminal Record – 7 Dead, 20 Injured
There was an active shooting situation in Odessa, Texas on Saturday afternoon.
** Check our previous coverage here.
Police shot and killed one shooter.
#Breaking: Just in – Shocking video allegedly from #Midland in #Texas, of police officers shooting at one of the suspect who were driving from #Odessa to #Midland and shot at random places and people in the area. #US pic.twitter.com/nHsic0og71
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) August 31, 2019
UPDATE—- 20 shooting victims.
7 people are dead!
Texas officials identified the name of the shooter almost 24 hours after the deadly shooting.
36-year-old Seth Ator, a resident of Odessa, Texas was named as the assailant on Sunday.
He opened fire on state troopers during a traffic stop.
The New York Post reported:
The assault rifle-toting madman who killed seven people and wounded more than 20 others in a roving Texas spree was identified Sunday as Seth Ator.
Ator, a 36-year-old resident of Odessa, Texas, was first named as the assailant by CBS News, citing law-enforcement sources.
When his gold Toyota pick-up truck was pulled over for a minor signaling infraction along a stretch of I-20 near Midland, Texas, on Saturday, Ator blasted approaching state troopers, seriously wounding one, authorities have said.
Seth Ator had a criminal record.
Police in Texas just revealed that the Odessa shooter had a criminal record. Sounding more and more likely that he was in possession of a gun illegally. A new gun law can’t stop a shooter if the shooter is already using a gun illegally.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) September 1, 2019
UPDATE: The Heavy has more on Ator’s criminal record.
According to a statewide criminal history search on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s website, Seth Ator was charged with “Criminal Trespass” on August 3, 2001, in McLennan County, Texas. It was a Class B Misdemeanor.
He was then charged with a second offense for Evading Arrest. The record shows that Ator issued a guilty plea in February of 2002 and received a sentence of 24 months on probation. The site does not provide further details as to what prompted the arrest.
The case was listed as a “deferred adjudication.” In the state of Texas, it’s a type of probation in which the conviction is kept off the defendant’s criminal record.
