By Jordan Miller
Sports Editor
Malvern resident, Landin Robinson, 16, and his cousin, Klayton Manning, 18, were shot and killed on the evening of Tuesday, June 9, while riding a utility terrain vehicle on a country road near Luling, Texas.
Bryan Haynes, 34, of Austin, Texas, was arrested on June 11 and has been charged with two counts of capital murder.
Haynes allegedly shot the two teens multiple times. News reports say that he told his brother he shot two “aliens” who were chasing him.
“We’re hoping we get justice,” said Landin’s mom, Amber Hise, following the arrest of Haynes. “Landin was a good kid. Klayton was a good kid.”
Landin’s mother was at home in Malvern when she learned of her son’s death.
“I was going to lay down. My kids were in Texas visiting their dad and I texted them every night ‘I love you’. There was not one night I didn’t tell my kids I loved them,” said Hise. “When Landin didn’t respond to me, I said ‘Landin, answer your phone. I know you’re busy, but Mom wants five minutes just to talk to you’. There was no answer.”
Then, Hise said, she got the phone call no parent ever wants to get.
“My daughter called me and she was screaming through the phone. She said, ‘Mom I need you here now, I need you here now! Landin’s been killed!’”
Hise says her family booked a flight for the following morning.
“We just got on the plane as fast as we could to get there (Texas),” she said.
She said Landin was the protector of his two sisters, Madison and Kaitlin.
“His older sister says it should’ve been her and not him. She’s just been telling me over and over and over again how sorry she is and that she should’ve protected him more,” said Hise. “That’s not a weight that they should have to carry. I just feel so bad for my kids.”
“They loved their brother. He was their protector,” Hise said. “Even though he was the baby, he was their protector.”
Hise said she doesn’t know how she’ll move on.
“I don’t know how I’ll go on without him. I don’t know how any parent is supposed to bury their child,” she said. “You, as a parent are supposed to have your children bury you; not you bury them.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help offset some of the funeral expenses.
Hise says the Malvern community has been very supportive.
“I appreciate all the love, support and the help. It’s just a godsend,” Hise said. “In such a tragic way, we lost somebody we loved. Landin loved his football team.”
“We are deeply saddened, stunned and angry about the tragic loss of one of our own, Landin Robinson,” said Malvern’s football coaching staff via Facebook. “Landin was such a quiet, kind, humble and hard-working young man. We ask that you please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers as they deal with the loss of Landin.”
Hise said Landin could light up a room. “He had a lot of friends. He was a joker, but he was a quiet kid, a good kid.”
Landin would have been a junior this fall and had just been accepted into the RG Drage welding program.
Hise said her last conversation with her son was about preparing for his classes.
“I was talking to him about getting his welding stuff that he would like to have. We were setting up stuff for him for welding. He wanted to be a welder.”
Klayton, who was a firefighter at the SE Caldwell County Fire Department in Texas, and Landin were buried with full honors with police officers and firemen attending the service.
