Updated at 9 p.m.: Revised to include additional details throughout.

The 23-year-old man accused in a mass shooting at a party outside Greenville last month was released from jail Tuesday after officials said they’d found evidence likely to clear him of the crime.

The Hunt County Sheriff’s Office recommended that the county’s district attorney drop the case against Brandon Ray Gonzales, who had been held on $1 million bail since his arrest Oct. 28 on a capital murder charge.

In a statement, the sheriff’s office said “additional information has come to light” since Gonzales’ arrest.

“Due to the lack of cooperation from witnesses and discovery of exculpatory evidence during the course of the investigation, we have requested the Hunt County district attorney’s office take no action on Mr. Gonzales’ case at this time and that he be released from custody," the statement said.

Gonzales was arrested two days after gunfire set off chaos late Oct. 26 at a party celebrating Texas A&M University-Commerce’s homecoming about 15 miles southwest of the campus, which is about 65 miles from Dallas.

Two 23-year-old men, Kevin Berry Jr. of Dallas and Byron Craven Jr. of Arlington, were killed. Six others were shot, and several more were injured trying to escape the venue, some crawling through a broken window to flee.

Gonzales, alongside his brother and his attorneys, Andrew Wilkerson and Michael Campbell, spoke outside the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, promising to hold the department responsible.

After spending nearly nine days in jail, he had two plans: to see his three children, and to get something to eat.

He said it hurt sitting in his cell, hearing other people call him "the shooter."

"It killed me because that's not my image, that's not who I am, that’s not who I've ever been," he said.

He said he was haunted by flashbacks of police coming with guns drawn to arrest him at the car dealership where he works.

He and his attorneys said he had been in his car on a FaceTime call when the gunfire erupted — he was so far away he didn’t hear anything, but he did see people running from the building.

The attorneys said they immediately took that evidence from the call, as well as the accounts of four other people with Gonzales at the time, to the sheriff's office.

Campbell called authorities' investigation into the shooting "shoddy and incomplete."

“This is a national crisis what took place here in Greenville, and we’re appalled that the Texas Rangers and the … sheriff’s department did not do their due diligence in investigating,” he said. “They rushed to judgment when naming Brandon, an innocent man, as a suspect in this case.”

Wilkerson said the attorneys would take civil action to hold the sheriff’s department accountable for Gonzales’ arrest. A spokesman for the department did not return calls and messages seeking comment.

Gonzales read a letter he wrote in jail in which he asked God for guidance for him, his family and friends "to help us overcome this darkness."

“Lord, I am your child, and I did no such thing as they are trying to ruin my image on the outside,” he said. “But even then, while I am here, I will remain the same kind, humble and loving person, because I know I’m coming home.”

Gonzales’ family said from the start that he was not the gunman.

Gabriel Gonzales, his brother, said news of his brother’s release was “amazing.” He credited the community with helping free an innocent man.

“I feel like they made the right decision,” he said of authorities.

A day after Gonzales’ arrest, a sheriff’s spokesman said the department was “fully confident that we have the right suspect.”

The arrest-warrant affidavit for Gonzales appears to rest on the account of one unnamed witness, who reported seeing Gonzales open fire at the party and identified him through his Facebook profile. The witness spoke to authorities along with an attorney, who was also not named in the document.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, an activist who organized a protest Saturday of more than 50 people calling for Gonzales’ release, said he was astounded to hear Tuesday evening’s news.

“The spirit of justice has prevailed and Brandon Gonzales is free,” he said.

He said Gonzales’ release was the result of public pressure.

“This wasn’t the result of a hearing — this was the result of the sheriff’s department realizing that they were wrong,” Hood said.

State and federal agencies, including the Texas Rangers and the FBI, assisted local authorities with the investigation.

Speaking to reporters on the day Gonzales was arrested, Sheriff Randy Meeks said his department had not determined a motive or recovered the weapon used in the shooting.

In his statement Tuesday evening, Meeks said the department knew many people at the party had not spoken to law enforcement. As investigators worked the crime scene the day after the shooting, authorities said the investigation had been hindered by witnesses being reluctant to speak.

“Though individuals may have reasons for not wishing to come forward, we ask that they do so and tell law enforcement what you saw and heard that night no matter how small the information may be,” Meeks said in the statement. “They may not know the importance of any information they have.”

Authorities asked anyone who was present at the party or who has information about the shooting to contact the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office at 903-408-6800. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 903-457-2929.