Garland man shoots best friend, self while in car

By Charles Ornstein / The Dallas Morning News

A Garland man depressed about going to prison shot his best friend and
then himself while driving near Lake Ray Hubbard.

Both men died at area hospitals Sunday.

Dallas police said they are trying to understand why Timothy Michael
Hannie shot Jason Farmer in the head while driving down Barnes Bridge
Road at about 10 p.m. Saturday. Mr. Hannie's car smashed through a guard
rail at Barnes Bridge Park, hit a seesaw and stopped in a grassy field,
police said.

"The whole thing is pretty puzzling in any type of murdersuicide, but
especially one like this where the two people are friends," homicide
Sgt. Larry Lewis said. "I've been here for almost three years and this
is the first one that I've seen where it has been among friends."

Police were called by a passerby and found the two men in the car. Mr.
Farmer was taken by helicopter to Baylor University Medical Center,
where he died about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Mr. Hannie was taken by helicopter
to Methodist Medical Center and died about 1 p.m. Sunday.

Relatives say Mr. Hannie, 25, was found guilty recently on a marijuana
charge in Louisiana and was "pretty despondent" about being sentenced to
prison. Stepfather Gary Roney said that Mr. Hannie's girlfriend is
expecting a child in January and that his stepson couldn't handle the
thought of going to prison.

"He'd sunk pretty low," his stepfather said.

Mr. Farmer's mother, Jean Rothring, said she warned her 25yearold son
repeatedly to stay away from Mr. Hannie, his best friend of five years.
But Mr. Farmer didn't heed her advice.

"I wish my son would have listened to me because he would still be
alive," Ms. Rothring said. "He was always saying, 'Don't worry about me,
Mom. Tim won't do anything. He's just a bunch of hot air.' That's just
the way he was."

In the past several years, Mr. Hannie had served prison time for
stealing a car, stealing from a car, possession of more than four ounces
of marijuana, criminal mischief and petty theft. At one point, he was
ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program. In court records, he is
referred to as both Timothy Kiley and Timothy Hannie.

There is a charge pending in Dallas County for possession of less than
two ounces of marijuana against Mr. Hannie.

Ms. Rothring said her son had his own problems, but worked hard on his
carpentry jobs and was very loyal to his family and 2yearold son,
Blake. At the time of his death, Mr. Farmer was awaiting trial on a
misdemeanor charge of breaking into a car.

"He was no angel, but I'll tell you what, you can ask anybody, he had a
big heart and he would give the shirt off his back," Ms. Rothring said.

Mr. Roney said he can't imagine that his stepson would deliberately kill
Mr. Farmer. He speculated that the man was shot accidentally while
struggling to prevent Mr. Hannie from shooting himself.

"They were tight," Mr. Roney said. "They were really tight."

Autopsies on the men, who both lived in Garland, will be performed
Monday by the Dallas County medical examiner's office.

Ms. Rothring said she confronted Mr. Hannie about his drug problems and
violent temper about two months ago. But he told her that he was trying
to pull his life back together and needed Mr. Farmer's help.

"He said Jason was closer to him than any brother would be," Ms.
Rothring said. "How can anybody say they love somebody that much and do
what they did to him? I just don't understand this."

Last week, she said, Mr. Farmer told her that Mr. Hannie had thought
about suicide. Her son said his friend would never go through with it.

Sgt. Lewis said investigators and family members may never know the
answers to their questions.

"A motive or cause sometimes can never be determined," he said. "It's
only known by the person who actually did it. I'm sure there's going to
be a lot of speculation out there."

Michelle Farmer said she will not stop wondering why Mr. Hannie would
kill his only good friend.

"He took my brother away from me," said Ms. Farmer, 26. "He took him
away from my mother. And he has a little boy who's never going to know
that his daddy loved him so much. It's sad."

Ms. Rothring said her final words to her son at 7 p.m. Saturday still
ring in her head.

"I said, "Jason, please be careful,' " she said. "And he said, "Momma,
I'm always careful." He just kind of laughed.

"He said, 'I'll be home after a while.' That was that."

Staff writer Brooks Egerton contributed to this report.