A former Utah trooper remained on life support Wednesday in Texas while police made him the suspect in a second fatal roadway shooting.
Brian G. Smith, 37, was still in critical condition at a Dallas-area hospital. His father-in-law had earlier said the family was taking him off life support, but Officer Joe Harn, of the Garland, Texas, police department, on Wednesday afternoon said Smith had not been disconnected.
Harn said Garland police consider Smith "the main suspect" in the Monday shooting death of a motorist at an intersection there.
"We don't have the forensics back that say it's definitely him," Harn said. "But [with] the timelines and everything going on, we feel he is our suspect."
Dallas police on Tuesday named Smith as the prime suspect in a freeway shooting a day earlier that also killed a driver. A third person was injured in the roadway shootings, which began just minutes after Smith allegedly robbed a pharmacy.
Police said the victims appeared to have been selected at random.
The shooting in Dallas killed 42-year-old truck driver William Scott Miller.
"He was a good man -- honest and hardworking," Dennis Tolson, president of Vincent Fister Inc., an agent of United Van Lines, told the Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com). "Customers loved him. He had great personal skills."
Miller, who was in the National Guard and served in Desert Storm, worked in a tool-and-die shop and was a cabinet maker before becoming a trucker, the Dallas Morning News said.
"He always had a smile on his face and was the first to lend a hand to family and friends in need," said Donna Hammons, Miller's sister, told that newspaper.
Smith joined the Utah Highway Patrol in 1996 and worked mostly in Salt Lake County, advancing to sergeant.
On Jan. 10, according to the documents provided Tuesday by UHP, Smith bought two pints of liquor in Draper and drove his patrol car to a movie theater in Lehi. He drank one of the pints.
Then Smith drove to a park in Herriman and drank from the second pint before driving home. Smith kept drinking while sitting in his car, the documents said.
Smith called his LDS bishop and asked him to come over. The bishop arrived and sat in Smith's car as Smith talked about suicide, the documents said. Smith held his handgun to his chin.
When Smith placed the gun on the dashboard, the bishop took it and called 911, the document said.
UHP began an internal affairs investigation, during which Smith admitted to the drinking and driving and to stealing prescription drugs from a relative who was a dentist. Smith claimed his drinking and drug use began after an on-duty traffic accident.
Smith resigned from UHP and agreed to surrender his certification as a peace officer.
