Alleged Houston Shooter 'Haunted' by Time in Afghanistan, Stepmom Says

ByEMILY SHAPIRO ABCNews logo
Tuesday, May 31, 2016

After a 25-year-old veteran was identified by ABC station KTRK-TV as the alleged gunman behind a deadly shooting in west Houston, the young man's devastated stepmother told ABC News, "I think he was haunted by everything he experienced" in Afghanistan.

Police have not confirmed the identity of the shooter, who also died in the shooting, but KTRK-TV in Houston reported that a source identified the suspect as veteran Dionisio Garza III.

The Army confirmed to ABC News that Garza was deployed to Afghanistan twice between 2009 and 2013 and that he was discharged in 2014.

Garza's stepmother, Cathy Garza, told ABC News she thinks he might have had post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think he was haunted by everything he experienced there. I think it changes you," she said. "I don't know how you can go through what he went through and see what he saw and not have it change you or affect you."

The shooting spree on Sunday left one victim dead and six people injured.

The stepmother said the 25-year-old was kind, loving and respectful, and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary the last time she saw him.

"We're devastated," Cathy Garza said. "I can't help but think of all the families that were affected by this."

"It just wasn't him," she said. "That's not who he was."

ABC News' Jim Vojtech contributed to this report.

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