A portion of the Brownsville Public Library was already open on Monday morning as a voting booth for local primary runoff elections. But the library’s main room remained dark, with a group of eight or so people waiting silently outside the metal shutter.
Brownsville Library Services Director Juan Guerra walked outside to greet the waiting patrons then unlocked the shutter. The group hesitated to enter until Guerra said to go ahead. For the first 20 minutes of its reopening, the library was reverentially silent.
Patrons and staff briefly conversed about the shooting that occurred last Monday inside the library. But as the morning waned, more people came inside and filled the space with the familiar hum of computers, book scanners and friendly conversation. Some staff had returned to the library this past Wednesday alongside city leaders and local police departments. Although the library was closed to the public, staff members had a chance to reacclimate to the space that last Monday was part of a scene unimaginable to many Brownsville residents.
Vahid Khaledi went to Brownsville Public Library often, spending much of his free time there. But Monday, May 11, was his final time in the library’s main branch, which sits off Central Boulevard and is connected to Veterans Park.
In what Brownsville police said was the result of an argument, 33-year-old Humberto Paz, who also lived in Brownsville, shot Khaledi at point-blank range in the head. Khaledi had allegedly told Paz to quiet down just before the latter shot him. Official details were scarce on what else exactly happened inside the library that morning. Former Brownsville mayor Trey Mendez said Paz “remained at a table near the coffee area” in the library as people ran out.
On El Rrun Rrun, a blog covering Brownsville politics, an article explained that Paz remained in the library for half an hour before police arrived. Other sources told TPR it was no more than 10 minutes. Helen Ramirez, Brownsville’s city manager, said police arrived within three minutes. More posts from the blog showed photos of people running from an emergency exit in the library.
Multiple people, including staff, had told Paz to be quiet before he shot Khaledi, a source familiar with the situation told TPR on background. Paz then sat down at a table near where Khaledi lay on the floor until police arrived at 12:04 p.m.
Paz was posting on Facebook in the minutes leading up to the police’s arrival, according to time stamps on his Facebook page. He changed the cover photo on his Facebook profile to an edited photo of someone — TPR could not confirm it was him — in a military uniform, with the word “Diablo,” Spanish for devil, written on it.
He also changed his profile photo to what appeared to be a picture of himself, in what looked like the Brownsville library, wearing the same clothes he was arrested in: a letterman jacket from a local high school, a black beanie and goggles, despite it being over 90 degrees that day.
At some point he stood up from the table. Police found him standing in the middle of the library and arrested him without incident.
Paz’s last posts were part of hundreds of mostly incomprehensible writings and photos on his Facebook page, almost all of which referred to his time in the U.S. Army Reserves, where he said he was a command sergeant major. CBS 4/NBC 23 reported Paz was in the U.S. Army Reserves from 2008 to 2016.
A LinkedIn page attributed to Paz details that he worked at the Cameron County Clerk’s office as a deputy clerk. Cameron County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez told TPR that Paz last worked there nearly nine years ago. He quit soon after she was elected. His LinkedIn also said he worked as a detention officer for almost two years with the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office. Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza did not respond to TPR's attempt to confirm whether Paz was employed at the office.
Brownsville police said Paz has had other run-ins with police over his mental health but none involving threats. On Facebook, residents said Paz was often seen walking down roads in Brownsville wearing a letterman jacket, a ski mask or all black clothes. TPR filed a request with the National Archives to confirm how Paz’s military service ended.
When the library reopened, a uniformed Brownsville police officer was inside. A Brownsville PD spokesperson told TPR this was part of extra security measures the library will have after the shooting — and more measures are planned.
Texas is an open-carry and permitless carry state, which means local municipalities cannot prevent people from carrying guns in public, even in a library. “So this is not a facility where firearms can be banned,” Brownsville City Commissioner Roy De Los Santos told TPR before the library’s reopening. “So we want to make sure we find that right balance that respects the rights of citizens, while also ensuring safety for those who are going to be coming to make use of the facilities as well.”
More than 4,000 people in Texas were killed in 2022 by guns, according to Census data. That number has been rising since Gov. Greg Abbott signed open-carry and permitless-carry laws in 2016 and 2021, the latter of which was mostly opposed by Texans and police.
“There's been this rollback of our gun laws, and an increase in gun deaths,” Nicole Golden, the executive director of Texas Gun Sense, a nonprofit organization that lobbies for safer gun legislation, told TPR. “So one could definitely make the argument that there's a relationship there.”
Texas continues to pass laws making it easier for residents to access and carry guns. But laws for background checks on gun buyers and age-restrictions for buying guns, which many organizations have been calling on Texas to do since the Robb Elementary shooting two years ago, have never passed in the state.
Because state law supersedes local ordinances, local municipalities can do little policy-wise to stop gun violence. Golden suggests Brownsville can institute community violence intervention programs as seen in other Texas cities like Austin.
After just a week, Khaledi’s death isn’t the latest instance of gun violence in Brownsville. Three days after the library shooting, a teenager shot two people in the legs at a Brownsville hotel. Early Sunday morning, the day before the library reopened, Brownsville police found a man dead from a gunshot wound off Boca Chica Boulevard.
Khaledi’s family, who are in Houston, Texas, took to social media in dismay after news of the shooting broke, describing Vahid as a peaceful man. Khaledi was originally from Shiraz, Iran, and worked as an accountant for an Iranian electronics company, according to his obituary. He was a photographer and avid reader and enjoyed spending time with his nieces and nephews.
“This has been a completely unexpected loss for our family, and we are all profoundly saddened by this tragedy,” Khaledi’s obituary read.
Paz is being held in the Cameron County jail on a $3.25 million bond, charged with first degree murder and second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A GoFundMe page for Khaledi’s funeral expenses reached more than half of the $18,000 requested before it was closed. Khaledi’s funeral will be held on Friday, May 24, in Houston.
