The son of slain Texas district attorney Mike McClelland believes his father’s death, which came two months after another local prosecutor was murdered, should prompt officials across the country to monitor their safety.
“It needs to put all public officials on their toes,’’ J.R. McClelland said on TODAY Monday. “It’s not just Texas. It’s basically domestic terrorism.’’
Mike McClelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, were gunned down at their home in Dallas on March 31. McClelland had vowed to catch the killer of another Dallas-area prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, who was shot to death near the county courthouse on his way to work Jan. 31.
“He meant to end this because Mark was one of his best friends,’’ McClelland’s mother told TODAY Monday. “He was a great son. Never any trouble.”
Authorities have not said that the two killings are connected and have not announced any leads in the deaths of the McClellands. There is a $200,000 reward for information leading to perpetrator of the crime. McClelland was shot 20 times while his wife was shot once, an unnamed federal source familiar with the investigation told NBC News.
“I was devastated,’’ McClelland’s mother said.
At the funeral for the couple on Friday, Cynthia’s ashes were put into an urn that was then placed in her husband’s flag-draped casket. The couple were the parents of three sons and two daughters.
“They were two people who were deeply in love all the time, every day,’’ J.R. McClelland said. “We’ve taken a small bit of gratefulness out of this whole thing that they went together, because neither one of them would’ve wanted to live without the other.”
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