Standoff comes to peaceful end

A reclusive West Odessa man who authorities said shot and wounded two sheriff’s deputies and a private citizen on Friday surrendered to law enforcement officials Saturday afternoon after a nearly 22-hour standoff.

Victor Dewayne White, 55, was taken into custody about 1:30 p.m. after he started a fire on the porch of his residence, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said. White was treated at Medical Center Hospital for injuries sustained in the fire, and later booked into the Midland County Central Detention Center on one count of aggravated assault of a public servant, authorities said.

The Texas Rangers also obtained warrants for White’s arrest on two counts of attempted capital murder of a peace officer, authorities said.

Before surrendering, authorities said White exchanged gunfire for several hours with two Department of Public Safety helicopters hovering above his residence, a remote area off University Boulevard that authorities said resembled a compound.

“Gunfire was exchanged, so that’s a deal that the (Texas) Rangers are going to have to look at as far as who was firing at what, and what type of ammunition and what type of weapons he had,” said Trooper John Barton, a DPS spokesman. “There’s a lot of evidence that’s going to have to be collected. It may be weeks before we get the entire story as far as how many rounds he fired.”

The two deputies who were injured Friday, Ricky Tijerina, 28, and Steven J. McNeill, 34, were listed in stable condition Saturday at Medical Center Hospital, said Jacqui Gore, a hospital spokeswoman. “He’s doing good today,” Tijerina’s brother, Tim Tijerina, said on his way to the hospital Saturday evening.

The third shooting victim, Luke A. Bedrick, 35, was treated and released Friday evening, hospital officials said.

The standoff began after 4 p.m. Friday after Bedrick, who works for an oil company, went to White’s property with Tijerina and a co-worker to access an oil well on White’s property, Bedrick said. Bedrick said his company owns the mineral rights to the land.

 “When they approached him, at some point, there was a confrontation,” Donaldson said. “They started to leave and (White) pulled the gun and started shooting, hit my deputy three times and hit the citizen one time.”

“I didn’t hear three words from the guy before he started shooting,” Bedrick said at his home Saturday evening. Bedrick said his co-worker was not injured. He said McNeill arrived after the initial shooting.

Donaldson said that at some point White stole a deputy’s vehicle and radio. White then used the stolen radio to taunt law enforcement officials and deride Donaldson. White, who friends said has a long history of resentment toward Donaldson, could be heard over a police scanner calling the sheriff a traitor and saying, “Mr. Donaldson, the wrath of the public is coming.”

“He told me he was going to put a bullet in my head between my eyes,” Donaldson said, adding he heard bullets “whizzing by my ear.”

Pressed about his past with White, Donaldson said: “We’ve had different things with Mr. White and other people about his feelings about the way he thinks things should be.”

The sheriff said he could not recall any specific incidents that would have caused any resentment between the two men. “The only past we’ve had is what we’ve dealt with here years ago,” Donaldson said.

Friends and acquaintances said White has long sympathized with the Republic of Texas movement. The Vietnam War veteran — who rarely left his home and lived without electricity — flew an American flag upside down on his property.

“He’s a man that stands up for his rights. He doesn’t take any horse crap from nobody,” said Ken Nelson, a friend of White’s for more than 15 years. “They’ve been trying to get him off of his property for some time.”

 “It’s sad knowing that he wants to go that route,” said Rusty Evans, 49, who has lived across the street from White for years and was one of several residents displaced from their homes during the standoff. “I believe in (the Republic of Texas) myself, but I don’t believe in violence — not like that.”

Evans said he slept in a pickup Friday night. “All we could do was just hurry up and wait,” he said. “It lasted way too long.”

While some West Odessa residents were distressed by the standoff, others were enthralled by the suspense. Dozens of people parked their vehicles atop a hill on 42nd Street north of White’s compound and watched through binoculars as the helicopters hovered above.

“I’m not scared,” Raymond Andrede, 20, said of his perch just a few hundred yards from the action. “We came out yesterday, too, but we were farther away.”

Ginger Wallace, a local resident, was returning from a cross-country meet with her children when her curiosity pulled her to the side of the road as well.

“I didn’t even like them getting out of the car,” Wallace said of her daughters, who were watching from the roof of their vehicle. “We have kids, so yesterday, as soon as we got the phone call, I was like, ‘Get inside.’ We didn’t know where he was.”

Many spectators commented on the phalanx of law enforcement vehicles parked along University Boulevard. There were conflicting reports as to exactly how many officers assisted in the standoff, but Donaldson said at least 20 agencies, including several Texas Rangers, pitched in.

“Anytime an officer gets hurt, that’s the kind of camaraderie that peace officers have to come together to try to solve the situation,” Donaldson said.

OA reporter David Johnson contributed to this article.