LONGVIEW, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video aired on June 29, 2024.
Documents allege a man accused of killing a Taco Bell employee last week was found wearing body armor with ammunition and a firearm suppressor on his person at a Longview emergency room five days before the shooting.
Brent Leslie DeLuca, 31, of Gilmer, is charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting death of Rayleene Smithson, 60, at the Taco Bell, located at 2553 Judson Rd, during an attempted robbery on June 26.
Police say a person walked up and tried to rob the Taco Bell employees. The suspect shot one worker and stole a vehicle from the parking lot. The vehicle was found nearby and Smithson died at the scene. DeLuca was then arrested on Thursday.
According to jail records, he was also booked into a jail on a felon in possession of metal or body armor relating to a June 21 incident. The arrest affidavit states on that day Longview police officers received a call about a suspicious person at Hospitality Health ER, located at 3111 McCann Road.
An off-duty Kilgore police officer, who was working as security at the ER, told Longview police that she saw a man, who was later identified as DeLuca, sitting inside a running vehicle and he appeared to be wearing a bullet resistant vest. The security officer also found a magazine with ammunition on DeLuca's person and a firearm suppressor in his pants.
Body cam video from a Longview officer showed DeLuca wearing a tropical print short sleeve button-up shirt with what appeared to be a dark ballistic vest and dark short-sleeved shirt underneath the vest, the affidavit read.
After reviewing DeLuca's criminal history, police learned he was convicted of at least one felony in 2012. He was found guilty of evading arrest with a vehicle or watercraft, which is a third-degree felony, in Upshur County, the document read.