On the morning of May 12, 2026, a tragedy unfolded in the parking lot of the Texarkana Aluminum plant in Nash, Texas, culminating in the death of 48-year-old Eddie Ray Hill Jr. Mr. Hill, a resident of Texarkana, Texas, was arriving for his shift at approximately 6:30 a.m. when he witnessed a volatile domestic dispute between a coworker, Candis Jolene Champion, 37, and her husband, Wendell Lane Champion Jr., 40, of Hope, Arkansas. Without hesitation, Hill attempted to intervene, a selfless act that would ultimately cost him his life.
Wendell Champion, the aggressor in the altercation, turned his firearm on the good Samaritan, fatally shooting Eddie Ray Hill Jr. After killing Hill, Champion then shot and critically injured his wife before taking his own life. Nash Police officers arrived at the scene on Alumax Drive to find the bodies of two men and a seriously wounded woman. Candis Champion was transported to a local hospital in stable condition. The incident left the local community and the employees of Texarkana Aluminum in a state of shock and mourning.
Subsequent investigations into the background of Wendell Lane Champion Jr. revealed a significant and violent criminal history. Public records confirmed that he had been convicted of first-degree murder in Harris County, Texas, in 2010. He was subsequently released on parole in 2025, a year before the fatal shooting. The Nash Police Department confirmed that there were no other suspects involved in the incident and that there was no ongoing threat to the public. The case was classified as a murder-suicide, with the perpetrator deceased at the scene, thus concluding the criminal investigation without any arrests or trials. The life of Eddie Ray Hill Jr., a man who died a hero trying to help a person in need, was tragically cut short by a man who, despite a previous murder conviction, was free to take another life.
