Aransas County jailer charged in deadly shooting first called accident
An Aransas County jailer is being charged with murder in a shooting that was initially deemed accidental.
Police, fire and EMS arrived at a residence on April 19 at 536 West Yoakum St. in San Patricio County to find Phillip Esslinger, 18, with a gunshot wound to his upper right chest area, according to the arrest affidavit. Esslinger was rushed to the nearest trauma center, where he died of his injuries, according to a press release sent out by the APPD on the day of the shooting.
The initial release said Esslinger had been shot in the chest by a shotgun firing birdshot, which accidentally discharged after being worked on by another occupant at the location.
After interviewing eyewitnesses at the scene, including 19-year-old suspect Trintonn Ray Crisp, however, APPD Detective Stacey Allen had probable cause to suspect the shooting was on purpose.
According to statements published in the affidavit, Crisp first said he set the shotgun down on the sofa, where it bounced too roughly and went off, hitting Esslinger in the upper right chest area and mortally wounding him. Later, he said that he’d been playing a game of Shotgun Roulette, holding the gun in “ready position but just to the side of Phillip,” and that as he was bringing the shotgun down toward the sofa, it ejected.
Police found the trajectory of where the suspect described the shotgun bouncing off the sofa and ejecting did not align with where the victim was standing or the location of the bullet wound on his body. An autopsy report indicated the victim was shot at close range, corroborated by eyewitness statements, the detective said in the affidavit.
“It was clear that what was in front of me was not an accident,” Allen said. “I did have people who called me and provided information. Things ultimately lined up with one another.”
On April 25, the detective issued a warrant for Crisp’s arrest for murder, and he was arrested in Kimble County, taken into custody and released April 26 after posting a $200,000 bond in Kimble County, according to a letter from the San Patricio County Sheriff’s Office.
Allen said he called the victim’s family to let them know the warrant had been issued, but that he has not talked to anyone else about the suspect or victim.
Since then, eyewitnesses have said they’ve seen Crisp resume his job at the Aransas County Detention Center, where he worked as a corrections officer.
The Aransas County Sheriff could not be reached for comment regarding whether Crisp had resumed his job or what the impact of the prosecution might have on his license or employment there.
A close friend of Esslinger's, Nathan Scholten, said he last spoke to the victim April 19 and questions the conduct of allowing someone who is under investigation for murder to continue working at a county jail with other law enforcement.
The probable cause affidavit said Crisp stated he had knowledge of gun safety and knew guns should never be pointed at anyone in a playful or joking manner, whether the gun was loaded. He said he had a bad habit of pointing guns at people and knew what could happen as a result, but did not think about that in the moment that Esslinger was shot.
Detective Allen said that the last case where he investigated homicide took between two and a half and 3 years to solve, leading up to the day of the trial.
“It can be hard for people to understand that a lot goes into a murder investigation and it takes a lot of time to piece things together,” he said. "It's a very sad story. A life was taken, and another life is in jeopardy. It is not an easy investigation."
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Aransas County jailer charged in deadly shooting first called accident
