

Darrell Joseph Legnon

An admitted member of a notorious white supremacist prison gang, out on bond for aggravated robbery charges, allegedly vowed in recent days to kill a police officer if faced with arrest and a return to the penitentiary.

Late Tuesday night, authorities say, the man, identified as Darrell Joseph Legnon, died when he apparently tried to live up to his word.

Legnon, 25, was shot and killed by Nacogdoches County sheriff’s deputies in East Texas as he allegedly brandished and pointed a shotgun at the deputies during a traffic stop.

Legnon, who had been in and out of jail at least 17 times over the years, had previously confessed to authorities that he was a member of the violent and white supremacist prison gang, Aryan Brotherhood, according to television station KTRE.

In the several days leading up to the deadly roadside confrontation, Legnon had allegedly made numerous comments that he was going to kill a police officer, the Nacogdoches Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

“He evidently thought he was going back to the pen,” Nacogdoches County Sheriff Jason Bridges told KTRE. “Maybe he was, and he took it upon himself that he was not going to go back to the penitentiary, and he had made those statements before to people that this was what was going to happen when the police tried to capture him.”

At the time of his death, Legnon was out of jail on bond, facing two aggravated robbery charges in nearby Cherokee County where he lived. He was also facing an unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charge.

Legnon was one of three men in a car pulled over shortly before 11 PM Tuesday by a Cushing, Texas school police officer who grew suspicious when he saw the vehicle cruising through a school campus.

“The vehicle attempted to elude the officer,” according to the news release, “but he was able to catch up with it” and pull it over.

Two Nacogdoches sheriff’s deputies quickly arrived as backup.

Legnon was sitting in the front passenger seat and unexpectedly stepped out of the car “in a quick manner,” Bridges told KTRE.

“The officers immediately noticed he had a shotgun in his hand,” Bridges said, adding that they yelled at Legnon to “Drop the gun; drop the gun; drop the gun.”

Legnon, the sheriff said, kept replying, “no.”

Then he raised the shotgun and pointed it at the two deputies who were standing behind the vehicle.

The deputies opened fire. “They definitely were in fear of their life,” Bridges said.

Each deputy fired two rounds and Legnon and his loaded shotgun fell to the street. “As soon as the threat stopped, they stopped shooting,” the sheriff told the station. “If they had not done what they had done, we would be burying officers today.”

The deputies and paramedics attempted “lifesaving efforts,” according to the release, but Legnon was pronounced dead at the scene. Several white supremacy tattoos were discovered on his body.

The sheriff told KTRE that the shooting appeared justified. But as is routine in such law enforcement-related shootings, the deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave as the investigation is completed.

“It’s very sad that it happened,” Bridges said. “That a person lost his life. We understand that he has family. My heart goes out to the family. It’s a very sad situation, but I’m very thankful that the deputies were not injured.”