Texas Prosecutor And Wife Shot Dead At Home

A senior prosecutor in Texas and his wife have been found shot dead in their home two months after a colleague was gunned down outside a courthouse.

The bodies of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and Cynthia McLelland were found on Saturday, Kaufman County sheriff's Lieutenant Justin Lewis said.

He did not say whether authorities believed their deaths were linked to the January shooting death of 57-year-old Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.

That killing followed a statewide alert last December which said the Aryan Brotherhood, an organised crime syndicate, was "actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials".

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh told the Dallas Morning News: "It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock and until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise."

The newspaper reported that authorities were providing security at the homes of others who feared they could also be targeted.

"Everybody's a little on edge and a little shocked," said Darren Rovell, mayor of the nearby town of Forney. "It appears this was not a random act."

Sam Rosander, a neighbour of the McLellands, said sheriff deputies had been parked in the district attorney's driveway for about a month after Mr Hasse was killed.

No arrests have been made in Mr Hasse's killing, which happened in broad daylight close to his office.

Police, FBI agents, Texas Rangers and county law enforcement are working together on the investigation.

The FBI had explored the possibility that Mr Hasse's killing could be related to the March 19 shooting death of Colorado's prisons chief, Tom Clements.

Mr Clements was shot after answering the doorbell at his Denver-area home.

Authorities believe Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and member of a white supremacist gang, was responsible for Mr Clements' death.

Ebel, 28, was killed in a shootout with Texas deputies two days later, about 100 miles from Kaufman County.