'Obsessed' Man Accused of Shooting and Killing Coworker at Her Desk Over 'Long Breaks'

A man in Lewisville, Texas is now facing a murder charge after his coworker was shot and killed at her desk on Thursday, October 17, at the offices of Allegiance Trucks. The suspect reportedly told detectives he had become obsessed with the woman to the point he started tracking how long her work breaks were. According to an arrest report, Travis Lee Merrill, 51, was arrested on Thursday after Tamhara Collazo was shot. Police were able to respond almost immediately as Allegiance Trucks shares a parking lot with the temporary headquarters of the Lewisville Police Department. Despite responding within minutes and rushing the victim to the hospital, she succumbed to her injures there and died, per Dallas Fox affiliate KDFW. Merrill was taken into custody on site. In their arrest affidavit, police report that Merrill agreed to speak with detectives about the matter and admitted to becoming obsessed with Collazo. He reportedly told them he "was obsessed with Collazo and began getting ever increasingly angry by her taking what he considered to be unauthorized long breaks during work hours, as well as not paying any attention to him." After enduring the allegedly unwanted attention and scrutiny for several months, Collazo reported Merrill to the company's HR department and told him to stop watching her breaks, per the affidavit. The court document asserts that Merrill was ordered to speak with a counselor over the phone before he would be allowed to return to work, but his behaviors only escalated after that. He told police that he felt his work colleagues probably considered him "a psychopath" after his return to work, according to NBC affiliate KXAS. Even more frustrating for him, per court documents, Collazo began to intentionally avoid him. Being ignored purportedly only made Merrill angrier, per police, at which point he told detectives he started buying guns and "practiced his movements with them" at home, per ABC affiliate WFAA. He allegedly told police that he'd brought guns to work on different occasions, including showing up to work once on his day off and sitting in the parking lot. He even said, per the affidavit, he'd brought guns the day before the shooting, but told detectives it "didn't feel like the right time." Last Thursday, Merrill admitted to detectives, according to the affidavit, that he followed Collazo into the parking lot when she took her lunch break and observed her sitting her car, as she usually did while on break. He told police he went to his own car, retrieved and prepared two revolvers to bring back into the office with him and await her return. As detailed in the affidavit, "as she re-entered after lunch, he followed her inside to her cubicle and ‘ambushed’ her, firing the gun several times." The police report states that Collazo was struck five times in the shooting, which was witnessed by two dozen workers. Merrill's meticulous obsession over Collazo's break times continued after police arrived. Once in custody, he detailed the exact dates, times and durations of each of her lunch breaks to detectives. As for the shooting in front of their office full of coworkers, Merrill said that was exactly his intention, per detectives, with the suspect allegedly telling them that Collazo "had caused him pain, and he wanted her to feel pain, so he intentionally planned to shoot her at work with everyone there," per the affidavit. In a statement, Allegiance Trucks says that the Lewiston office has been closed indefinitely and they are "providing support to the victim's family and the rest of our employees who, thankfully, were unharmed." "We are also working closely with law enforcement during their ongoing investigation," the company's statement continued. "We ask for the community's support as our company has unfortunately joined the growing national community of workplaces affected by gun violence." Merrill is currently being held in the Denton County Jail. His bond has been set for $10 million.