City addresses safety concerns after Brownsville library shooting

BROWNSVILLE, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — ValleyCentral spoke with Brownsville leaders to address potential safety upgrades after Saturday’s library shooting.

Police said the library had security at the time of the shooting. Despite their efforts, library murder suspect Humberto Paz walked in that day and shot 71 year old Vahid Khaledi in the head after a verbal altercation between the two.

Ahead of Tuesday’s city council meeting ValleyCentral asked what the city is doing to improve safety at the libraries.

“We are meeting with our local law enforcement as well as security experts who deal with this type of event and assessing what type of extra measures can be put in place for a facility of this type,” said Roy De Los Santos, District 3 City Commissioner for Brownsville. We do plan to reach out to the public as well and have conversations so that way we understand what all of their concerns are.”

In a video posted Monday, Brownsville police confirmed Paz had a history of mental health issues.

A look at his social media accounts revealed that on the day of the shooting, he posted conspiracy theories about the government.

Witnesses told ValleyCentral that Paz was being loud and Khaledi told him to keep it down before being shot.

After his arrest, it was also learned that Paz had a military record. He was in the U.S. Army Reserves from October 2008 to 2016 and was never deployed, records show.

Paz remains jailed on a $3,250,000 bond.

It is still unclear when the public library main branch will reopen in Brownsville.

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