By JAY PARSONS and MATTHEW HAAG / The Dallas Morning News
jparsons@dallasnews.com,
mhaag@dallasnews.com
On June 6, David Honish e-mailed his younger brother Mark a clear message: "You don't roar at me and wag your finger in my face EVER AGAIN IN THIS LIFETIME [expletive]!" according to police records.
ROBERT FLAGG / WFAA-TV
A police officer on routine patrol found David Honish, 52, dead in his white Ford F-150 pickup truck around 11 p.m. Thursday. The engine was still running. "There will be severe consequences for noncompliance," he went on to write.
At 11:31 Thursday night, a Flower Mound police officer on routine patrol found David Honish's white Ford F-150 pickup parked along the dimly lit dirt shoulder of U.S. Highway 377 at FM1171. Its engine was running, and the headlights were on.
Officer Chris Carroll walked up to the pickup, expecting to find that the driver needed help.
Inside, the officer found a man slumped over the steering wheel with a gunshot wound in the face. The dead man was David Honish, a 52-year-old peace activist from Denton. Next to him was a printout of the e-mail exchange with his 44-year-old brother, police said.
Investigators from the Denton County sheriff's office and the Texas Rangers arrived and made a cast of northbound tire tracks near the pickup's driver-side door.
Meanwhile, Flower Mound police Capt. Richard Brooks called David Honish's ex-wife, "who stated that the victim and his brother Mark Honish do not like each other and have been feuding for some time," according to a probable-cause affidavit.
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Video: WFAA-TV's Jackie Hyland reports
His opinions: Read letters Mr. Honish sent to the Denton Record-Chronicle
Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree and sheriff's Deputy Larry Kish drove to a cul-de-sac called Woodlands Court in nearby Trophy Club. As they arrived, a black Ford pickup was pulling out of the driveway. The only clean spot on the truck was the driver's side door – "the likely place where blood would have fallen," according to the affidavit. The door appeared to have been wiped down, authorities said.
Ranger Murphree approached the driver, who identified himself as Mark Honish, records show. Mr. Honish said he was leaving for work as an airline pilot. The ranger told Mr. Honish that his brother had been shot and killed.
Mr. Honish replied: "He has been threatening me, but you probably know that from looking at the e-mail in his truck," according to the affidavit. Ranger Murphree never told him the victim was shot in the truck, the affidavit says.
The ranger noticed six drops of blood on the driver's side of the truck's running board, mud on a tail pipe that matched mud from the crime scene and a tire tread pattern that matched the cast, arrest documents show.
The investigators arrested Mark Honish and charged him with his brother's murder. Mr. Honish was being held Friday in Flower Mound Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Mark Honish
"That's like something on TV," said Larry Libscomb, who leases land in Roanoke to Mark Honish for a temporary shooting range while a permanent one is being built. "He's just as normal as you and me. I hope he didn't do it."
It's unclear what the brothers had feuded over, and police would not speculate on a motive. The men's relatives and Mark Honish's ex-wife could not be reached for comment Friday.
David Honish's ex-wife wouldn't shed any light on a possible motive.
"I was horrified, just horrified," said Michelle Boslet, who lives in Pennsylvania "I have a daughter by him and it's been a hard day. He's a good person. I haven't seen David for a long time. I really, really can't say anything and don't really want to."
Shooting range
Mark Honish is the president of the Tactical Edge shooting range – touted as the nation's largest at 40,000 square feet – scheduled to open this year in Roanoke. The city approved the project in 2003, but it was delayed because of a lack of funds.
David Honish's role in the business was not clear, but he appeared to be involved. Tactical Edge vice president Paul Wolf did not return phone messages Friday.
David Honish
On the Web site Aubreyturner.org, David Honish wrote in 2003 about the pair's plan to start the gun range: "Long story short, we need $400K in private investment to qualify for the loans to make this happen. Will work out the details with my brother & have info on it in the near future for you."
An Army veteran, David Honish was the driving force for the North Texas Veterans for Peace, which often gathered on an overpass near the University of North Texas campus, said Bernie Jezercak, the group's financial officer.
"He was a very fine individual," said Mr. Jezercak, who had known Mr. Honish for about six years. "He was usually our frontman."
The group last met Memorial Day weekend, and Mr. Honish was there as always, he said.
"He was his usual jovial and insightful self," said Mr. Jezercak, who added that Mr. Honish was known to be opinionated.
Dan Burnam, coordinator for Peace Activist Denton, said Mr. Honish was not a member of the Denton group, but that they met in 2003 at a demonstration and had reconnected at several "peace actions" in the past few years.
In October, Mr. Honish was among about 40 people who demonstrated against torture and the war in Iraq outside the office of U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess in Lewisville. They were part of the local version of "The World Can't Wait" campaign, a North American movement protesting Bush administration policies.
Mr. Burnam said he received an e-mail from Mr. Honish on Wednesday with the subject line "Reasons not to re-enlist" in which he had talked about opening the gun range with his brother.
Brothers' backgrounds
U.S. 377 and FM1171, Flower Mound Mark Honish had owned a company called Blackhawk Air Services between 1997 and 2002, according to state records. He recently worked for Basin Aviation, a Midland-based company that provides charter flights. A company official said Mr. Honish worked sporadically.
Mark Honish's only previous criminal history appears to be a September 2005 arrest in Dallas County on a weapon possession charge, which was later dismissed by a grand jury.
In the June 6 e-mail – only a portion of which police released – David Honish blames his brother for "stupidity and your ongoing felony possession of firearms," without further explanation.
David Honish had been arrested twice on charges of weapon possession in Denton County. A 2006 incident was dismissed.
In May, he was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 80 hours of community service for a January incident in Denton. A police officer found David Honish, wearing "army-style clothing," standing behind a building with a "ninja kubaton," a heavy metal object made to be held in a fist with spikes extending from the knuckles, according to court records.
Court papers state that a witness told police Mr. Honish had been crouching behind bushes at an apartment complex and appeared to be window peeping, which Mr. Honish denied.
Staff writer Emily Tsao and Donna Fielder of the Denton Record-Chronicle contributed to this report.
