AUSTIN, Texas ― An 18-year-old man who admitted shooting a security guard in the foot after being kicked out of a party at a University of Texas fraternity house over the weekend has been arrested, police said Monday.
Daniel Hamilton Magee, who isn’t a UT student, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting early Sunday morning at the Sigma Chi fraternity, which is located off-campus. An arrest warrant affidavit says Magee had expressed interest in joining the fraternity.
Assistant Chief Troy Gay said Magee admitted to shooting the unarmed security guard in the foot after being kicked out of the fraternity party. “He was not happy that he had to leave the party,” said Gay, who added that the teen was heavily intoxicated and had taken Xanax.
The affidavit said fraternity members asked a man working as a security guard for their party, Edward Earls, to kick Magee out for causing problems. The affidavit says Earls had to physically remove Magee and when Magee got to the house’s front gate he made verbal threats to return and “shoot up the place.”
Gay said that when Magee returned to the fraternity house about 45 minutes later he was accompanied by his two roommates. He said the roommates did not know that Magee had a gun with him.
Gay said Magee and his roommates lived nearby but none of them are UT students.
When officials searched Magee’s home and a vehicle, an AK-47 and a .40-caliber weapon were found, but neither was the weapon used to shoot Earls, Gay said. He said it’s believed that Magee, who did not have a license to carry a weapon, discarded the weapon used to shoot Earls as he left the scene, and it has not yet been found. Police believe it was a small-caliber weapon.
Peter Scheets, assistant chief for the UT police, said it’s up to the discretion of fraternities and sororities whether to employ security guards for their events, but that typically they do hire them.
The affidavit said that witnesses said that after expressing interest in joining the fraternity, Magee had left his name and telephone numbers with Sigma Chi members, which is how police tracked him down.
Gay said Earls was treated at a hospital and has been released.
Magee was jailed on $50,000 bond. Jail records don’t list an attorney for him.
