went to Lonnie's house northeast of Rosebud. Jo Ann later stated that Kenneth and Lonnie took something behind a barn. After leaving Lonnie's house, she and Kenneth went to a movie in Temple. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brady Pamplin of Kenneth's native Falls County, and Sheriff Sonny Elliot of Robertson County, where Jo Ann's Bremond home was located, went to Jo Ann's mother, explained the situation, and asked to stay and wait for Kenneth to return.
The two sheriffs lay in wait behind shrubbery when Kenneth drove up with Jo Ann at 10:50 P.M. Apparently, his headlights shined through the shrubbery and illuminated Pamplin and Elliot. Kenneth immediately put his car in reverse and floored the accelerator. Just as immediate was the response by the sheriffs. Brady Pamplin fired two rounds of buckshot from a 12-gauge shotgun at Kenneth's radiator and tires. Elliot fired his
Page 36
pistol at the same targets. Jo Ann quickly hit the floorboard of the car and, incredibly, Kenneth managed to get out of the driveway. He did not get far.
Near the M&M Café on Bremond's Main Street, Kenneth spotted Jo Ann's brother in a vehicle. Kenneth jumped in and told the boy that someone was shooting at him and demanded to be taken to the constable. Brady Pamplin had instructed his son, Larry, to stay a safe distance away from where he and Sheriff Elliot waited for McDuff. Larry parked two and one half blocks away from the scene. After the shooting, Larry picked up the two sheriffs, gave chase and caught up to the boys. "I hollered for them to stop and get out of the car with their hands up. They got out of the car and stuck up their hands," the elder Pamplin later testified. 30
After the gun battle, the cause for which Kenneth was surely aware, the only question he had for officers was whether his insurance would repair the bullet holes in his car. 31
It was the only time in Kenneth's long and infamous criminal career that law enforcement officers actually fired their weapons at him. That singular experience, however, apparently had a lasting impression, and was enough to give Kenneth an exaggerated and lifelong animosity towards Sheriff Brady Pamplin and his son, Larry Pamplin, his successor in the Falls County Sheriff's Office. With the exception of two of the fourteen counts of burglary that sent him to prison in 1965, there is no record of Kenneth ever being arrested or jailed in Falls County or ever having another direct encounter with the Pamplins. Today, Kenneth Allen McDuff's name is not even in the index of cases in the Falls County Sheriff's Office. Many other jurisdictions, however, would come to deal with Kenneth Allen McDuff. 32
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
1 For a full account of the Texas Tower shootings see Gary M. Lavergne, A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1997).
2 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pgs. 8385; Texas DPS Files: Report of Investigation, by John Aycock, May 4, 1992.
3 Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966.
4 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pgs. 8990; TCSO Files: Statement of Roy Dale Green, August 8, 1966; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 18 and November 11, 1966; Confidential Document.
Page 37
5 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pg. 90; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 10, 1966; TCSO Files: Statement of Roy Dale Green, August 8, 1966; Confidential Document.
6 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and 11, 1966; Waco Times-Herald, August 9, 1966.
7 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966; Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966; Bob Stewart, No Remorse (New York: Pinnacle), passim; Jack Brand, in an interview with the author on December 19, 1998.
8 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966; Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966.
9 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966.
10 TCSO Files: Statement of Roy
The two sheriffs lay in wait behind shrubbery when Kenneth drove up with Jo Ann at 10:50 P.M. Apparently, his headlights shined through the shrubbery and illuminated Pamplin and Elliot. Kenneth immediately put his car in reverse and floored the accelerator. Just as immediate was the response by the sheriffs. Brady Pamplin fired two rounds of buckshot from a 12-gauge shotgun at Kenneth's radiator and tires. Elliot fired his
Page 36
pistol at the same targets. Jo Ann quickly hit the floorboard of the car and, incredibly, Kenneth managed to get out of the driveway. He did not get far.
Near the M&M Café on Bremond's Main Street, Kenneth spotted Jo Ann's brother in a vehicle. Kenneth jumped in and told the boy that someone was shooting at him and demanded to be taken to the constable. Brady Pamplin had instructed his son, Larry, to stay a safe distance away from where he and Sheriff Elliot waited for McDuff. Larry parked two and one half blocks away from the scene. After the shooting, Larry picked up the two sheriffs, gave chase and caught up to the boys. "I hollered for them to stop and get out of the car with their hands up. They got out of the car and stuck up their hands," the elder Pamplin later testified. 30
After the gun battle, the cause for which Kenneth was surely aware, the only question he had for officers was whether his insurance would repair the bullet holes in his car. 31
It was the only time in Kenneth's long and infamous criminal career that law enforcement officers actually fired their weapons at him. That singular experience, however, apparently had a lasting impression, and was enough to give Kenneth an exaggerated and lifelong animosity towards Sheriff Brady Pamplin and his son, Larry Pamplin, his successor in the Falls County Sheriff's Office. With the exception of two of the fourteen counts of burglary that sent him to prison in 1965, there is no record of Kenneth ever being arrested or jailed in Falls County or ever having another direct encounter with the Pamplins. Today, Kenneth Allen McDuff's name is not even in the index of cases in the Falls County Sheriff's Office. Many other jurisdictions, however, would come to deal with Kenneth Allen McDuff. 32
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
1 For a full account of the Texas Tower shootings see Gary M. Lavergne, A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1997).
2 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pgs. 8385; Texas DPS Files: Report of Investigation, by John Aycock, May 4, 1992.
3 Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966.
4 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pgs. 8990; TCSO Files: Statement of Roy Dale Green, August 8, 1966; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 18 and November 11, 1966; Confidential Document.
Page 37
5 State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff, SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 29, pg. 90; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 10, 1966; TCSO Files: Statement of Roy Dale Green, August 8, 1966; Confidential Document.
6 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and 11, 1966; Waco Times-Herald, August 9, 1966.
7 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966; Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966; Bob Stewart, No Remorse (New York: Pinnacle), passim; Jack Brand, in an interview with the author on December 19, 1998.
8 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966; Temple Daily Telegram, August 9, 1966.
9 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 8 and November 11, 1966.
10 TCSO Files: Statement of Roy
Similar Books
