Amarillo, TX — The Public Safety Commission and DPS Col. Freeman F. Martin awarded a unit citation to DPS Criminal Investigations Division Amarillo for work that officials say prevented a mass attack around July 4 last year.
Kevin Hunt, now 19, pleaded guilty April 29, 2026, to federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Sentencing is set for next month.
DPS said investigators had been watching Hunt after he left a juvenile mental health program. They cited concerning social media posts and activity they believed looked like site surveillance before local Independence Day events.
On July 2, 2025, Hunt was detained on an emergency mental health warrant after a joint case with Amarillo police and the Randall County District Attorney’s Office. A search of his home turned up firearms, ammunition, materials tied to explosives, and digital evidence, DPS said. He also admitted making explosive compounds.
He was federally indicted in September 2025 and also faces state charges of possessing explosive components, terrorism, and attempted capital murder of multiple people. DPS said those state terrorism charges were the first of their kind in Texas. That trial is set later this year in Randall County.
On July 15, 2026, a co-conspirator was indicted for hindering prosecution of terrorism and tampering with evidence. She was later extradited from California.
The citation went to Lts. William “Bill” Brown, Jered Snelgrooe, and Robert “Ben” Dollar, and Special Agents Logan Eastburn, Christopher Ecker, Alex Gallagher, Micah Goodrich, Shannon Henderson, Norman “Joe” Livermore, Jimmy Phoutthavong, Kendall Styles, Aaron Tarnutzer, and Trevor Dillard.
