New information about Silsbee shooting investigation

Authorities have filed charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a man accused of firing about two dozen rounds from a semi-automatic weapon Sunday afternoon and striking two men at a trailer park in Silsbee, according to information KFDM News received from Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen.

Rodney Edward Herrington, 22, of Village Mills, was charged Monday morning.  Chief Allen tells KFDM News Herrington has admitted to the crime.

The shots were fired at about 3 p.m. Sunday at a trailer park on Robinson Road off Gentry Drive in Silsbee. Herrington was caught at about 9 p.m. in a wooded area near Gentry Drive and Knupple Road.

Herrington was transferred from the Silsbee jail to the Hardin County Jail after he was charged.  Allen says later in the week authorities plan to file additional charges of deadly conduct against the suspect, based on the 25 to 30 shots fired from a 223 semi-automatic rifle.  Chief Allen says the weapon was recovered Monday morning.  In addition to the two victims, five to seven homes were struck. No one else was hurt.

The two men who were shot at the trailer park Sunday afternoon were hit in the extremities and treated and released at Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth.

Authorities say another man drove the suspect to the trailer park and left. That man is in custody on unrelated charges and Chief Allen says investigators believe he had no knowledge of what Herrington was planning.

Allen says investigators believe Herrington was upset about a relationship that had ended with a woman.

According to the chief, the two men who were shot in Silsbee might have been involved in a disturbance with the Herrington earlier Sunday in Village Mills. The chief says one of the men is the woman's boyfriend and the other is an acquaintance of the boyfriend.

Stay with KFDM News for the latest on the story.

Sunday night updated story

Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen tells KFDM News law enforcement officers took the suspect into custody at about 9:15 p.m. Sunday without any injuries to officers or the man investigators believe shot two people. He says a man accused of driving the suspected gunman to the trailer park where the shootings took place has also been taken into custody.

The suspected gunman was located in a wooded area near Gentry Drive and Knupple Road where authorities had been searching for him since Sunday afternoon. He's at the Silsbee Police Department and will be transferred to the Hardin County Jail.

Chief Allen says the suspected gunman had changed clothing. He came out of the woods without a weapon. K-9 units are searching for the weapon used in the shootings.

Both victims were treated and released at Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth for injuries from the shootings.

Chief Allen says the suspect is denying involvement in the shootings. The chief says authorities expect to charge him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder.

He says it's safe for families that had remained in their homes during the search to come out.

Earlier story Sunday

Hardin County Sheriff Ed Cain tells KFDM News his officers and Silsbee Police are searching for a gunman following the Sunday afternoon shooting of two people who received injuries the sheriff described as non-life threatening at a trailer park off Robinson Road near Gentry Drive.

Sheriff Cain says according to witnesses, a man in a green dually pickup truck dropped of a man with a gun near a residence and then drove away.

Witnesses say the man was carrying a weapon, possibly an automatic weapon, with a long barrel.

Sheriff Cain says according to witnesses, the gunman fired a number of shots at about 3 p.m. and struck two men before he ran south on Gentry Drive toward a wooded area.

Sheriff Cain says the two victims received non-life threatening injuries and were taken by ambulance to a hospital.

The sheriff told KFDM officers received information the suspect might have been upset about a relationship that had ended with a woman.

The Sheriff's Office and Silsbee Police have set up a perimeter while they search for the gunman. They're searching the woods near Gentry Drive and Knupple Road and the surrounding area. The man in the pickup is believed to have left the area.

Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen says the gunman is described as a white man with a dark complexion, wearing camouflage pants and a dark shirt or no shirt.

The driver of the green pickup truck is described as a white man wearing a white t-shirt and shorts.

Law enforcement officers are using dogs and a helicopter to assist with the search.

KFDM has a news crew on the scene. Watch the KFDM Weekend Report for the latest on this breaking news story.