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Family questions police account of
shooting
Lewisville: guard told officials man broke into dealership; kin doubt it
By KIMBERLY DURNAN and BRANDON FORMBY
The Dallas Morning News
Family members of a 19-year-old man who was shot to death at a Lewisville car dealership are questioning a police account that suggests he was trying to burglarize his place of employment.
Police who were called to the Toyota of Lewisville dealership early Wednesday found the body of Frank Adam Herbert of Flower Mound outside the building. He had been shot twice in the back, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner�s office.
An employee for the company, who does not usually work as a security guard but had been asked to do so that night, told police that Herbert had broken into the building about 1:30 a.m. and was stealing money, according to police and the dealership�s Dallas attorney.
Jessica Herbert of Rochelle, Ill., said Thursday that her brother had worked as a salesman at the dealership in the 1500 block of Stemmons Freeway for about eight months.
�He went into the building to retrieve some belongings, which makes me believe he has a key,� she said. �He would never break in. He had nothing on him. He was not armed. This wasn�t a burglary.�
Public records checks found no criminal record for Herbert.
Ms. Herbert said her brother grew up in Rochelle but finished his last three years of high school in Flower Mound. She said he loved football and at one time played for the minor-league Dallas Knights.
�He had a lot of character and a big heart,� she said. �He definitely embraced life with humor. He wouldn�t hurt a fly, and he had the kindest soul. He was just a sweetheart, and our hearts are broken.�
Lewisville police Officer Richard Douglass said he could not confirm that Mr. Herbert worked at the dealership.
An attorney for the dealership, Brian D. Melton, did not return phone calls or emails Thursday. However, in a statement released Wednesday, he contended that the dealership had been burglarized recently.
�The unknown intruder was caught breaking into a cash register inside the darkened building, and was shot only after he refused to stop,� Melton said. �The intruder was wearing a hood which concealed his face.�
Officer Douglass said the initial report indicated that Herbert was inside the showroom building when an employee acting as a security guard confronted him.
�He started trying to move around and hide or run, and that�s when the security person shot him,� Officer Douglass said. �We found him just outside the doors.�
He said he would not discuss whether Mr. Herbert had any of the dealership�s money or property on him when he was found.
The investigation was being treated as a homicide, Officer Douglass said.
�We�ll gather all the evidence, the facts and everything else,� he said. �They�re going to send it up to the [Denton County district attorney] and present it to the grand jury.�
At the dealership on Thursday, employees said they didn�t know any details about the shooting. General sales manager Gary Gray said all they had heard was that an intruder had been shot.
�No one actually knows what really happened,� he said.
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