Texas Tech student's family shares sorrow, grief, sympathy after officer's shooting death

The family of a Texas Tech student charged in the shooting death of a university police officer last week on the campus released a statement Monday regarding the officer’s death.

Chuck Lanehart, a Lubbock attorney representing 19-year-old Hollis A/ Daniels, released the following statement as a spokesman for the Daniels family.

“The Hollis Daniels family wishes to express its deepest sorrow, unimaginable grief, and heartfelt sympathy for all those affected by the death of Officer Floyd East, Jr.,” the statement reads. “Officer East was a dedicated police officer who selflessly served others, and his death is a devastating loss for all. In this time of unimaginable pain, loss, and heartbreak, our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer East’s family, friends and colleagues, and every person whose life has been touched by this senseless and unspeakable tragedy.”

In a statement issued by the East family last week, his wife and two teenage daughters thanked the Texas Tech and Lubbock communities and law enforcement for their support.

Lubbock police say Daniels fatally shot East the evening of Oct. 9 as the officer was filling out paper work to book the teen in connection with an arrest for drug possession in his residence hall. The shooting occurred in the campus police station and prompted a more than hour-long manhunt on the Texas Tech campus, which was placed on lockdown.

Services for East, 48, are scheduled for Tuesday in El Paso. He is survived by a wife and two teenage daughters.

Daniels remained in the Lubbock County Detention Center Monday on a capital murder charge. He was also indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Lubbock on a federal weapons theft charge.

His bond is at $5 million.